UniSey environmental science students seek to boost communities’ engagement to protect rivers |14 May 2018

Some third year environmental science students of the Univeristy of Seychelles on Saturday brought together a group of people from the Anse Royale district who live near the district’s main river and Mont Plaisir watershed with the aim of boosting their knowledge and enhancing their commitment to better protect these essential water sources.

Water is a vital resource to sustain life and one cannot imagine a more compelling reason to save it. River and watershed protection is a core component of the students’ studies and it is important for them to engage the Anse Royale communities to better protect these water sources by outlining to them the benefits of the Mont Plaisir watershed and the Anse Royale river.

The workshop took place at the Univeristy of Seychelles (UniSey) Anse Royale campus under the theme ‘Ecosystem-based adaption to climate change in Seychelles: Engaging the Anse Royale community with the Mont Plaisir watershed and Anse Royal River’.

Throughout the session the students and everyone present took time to discuss invasive species that take over the surrounding of rivers, pollution of rivers, health risks this can bring about and they also carried out experiments to test water quality from the two sources.

Sophie Morel, one of the students, stated that such a working session is good to get the community concerned more engaged and committed to protect and preserve the water sources close to them and this falls into the Watershed project by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

“It is an opportunity for the community to better understand the importance of such water sources. As a community the people can work together to improve the state of these important sources of life by reducing negative impacts of human activities on them,” she stressed.

Another student Lynndina Essack added that such interactions also boost their understanding of the environment in general.

“I can work closely with the community and share my knowledge on how to better preserve the environment. We have such wonderful ecosystems that need to be protected. The community should give a helping hand to do that,” she stressed.

There were various presentations on the impact of human activities on rivers and other water sources, on wetland rehabilitation, visits to nurseries, and distribution of light bulbs among others.