Absa Seychelles adopts and rehabilitates Petit Barbarons Wetland |07 August 2023
The Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change & Environment, Flavien Joubert (left) and the managing director of Absa Bank Seychelles, Nazim Mahmood, signing the MoU
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Plants nearly 300 seedlings and mangroves
Some 300 seedlings and juvenile mangroves were added to the Petit Barbarons Wetland on Saturday.
This was during a planting activity by Absa Seychelles in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change & Environment.
The activity falls under a memorandum of understanding between the bank and the ministry.
Absa Seychelles adopted the Petit Barbarons Wetland to help with its rehabilitation, following a call by the ministry for private companies and non-governmental organisations to come forward and support the management of environmentally significant sites, such as watersheds, rivers and wetlands among others.
According to the ministry’s senior public relations officer, Linne Dubignon, this forms part of effort to increase the direct involvement of local partners in the conservation and management of the environment.
“One of our core mandates is to get companies to be involved in environment cause and since Absa Seychelles was willing to do so, we took this great opportunity and partnered with the bank for this specific project at Petit Barbarons,” said Mrs Dubignon.
The project to restore degradable wetland was initiated under the South-South cooperation between Seychelles and China, funded under the Green Environment Fund.
The head of compliance at Absa Seychelles, Helda Antoine, said the company had expressed its interest for such a worthwhile project, and this was done in the spirit of partnership “as we wanted to do our bit to conserve and manage Seychelles’ environment”.
Other than restoration of wetlands through the planting of mangroves, other activities under the MoU includes the removal of creepers and regular clean-up works to improve the habitat for a wide range of plants and animal species as well as the bank’s participation in awareness campaign.
According to Mrs Dubignon this partnership is not restricted to the Environment department as the ministry intends to involve Absa Seychelles in other local projects planned by the Agriculture department that will involve farmers.
Meanwhile Mrs Dubignon has appealed to other local companies and NGOs interested in doing their bit for the conservation and management of the environment, to approach the ministry, which would be willing to work with them.
The accompanying photos show some highlights of the Saturday’s activity.
Patsy Canaya
