Constance Ephelia hosts workshop to mark World Nature Conservation Day |09 August 2023

To mark this year’s World Nature Conservation Day, the English River secondary school in partnership with La Retraite primary school organised a workshop at Constance Ephelia, Mahé, Seychelles.

The theme chosen for this year was – ‘Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet’.

The workshop was a fruitful one with three presentations done by Terence Vel from the University of Seychelles on the Ecosystem-based Adaption South project, Corianna Julie from the Seychelles Island Foundation on the Aldabra Ecosystem and Markus Ultsch-Unrath explaining the conservation efforts of Constance Ephelia, Mahé Seychelles.

Students and teachers who attended the workshop learnt about the different conservation efforts, the numerous benefits of mangroves, and challenges being faced in conserving the mangroves ecosystems for the future generations to come.

The aim of the workshop was to raise awareness of the importance of ecosystems, especially mangroves as a unique, special and vulnerable ecosystem and to promote solutions for their sustainable management, conservation and uses.  

After the workshop all those who were present went on a tour to explore Constance Ephelia, Mahé, Seychelles’ natural surroundings to see what was explained during the workshop.

Miss Brenda Andimignon from the English River secondary school said it is an important occasion to educate people about the challenges of climate change and the necessity of conservation of natural resources.

“Climate change is a reality and to mitigate the impact of global warming conservation of nature is inevitable. We must preserve our natural resources to maintain ecological balance and biodiversity for a sustainable future,” she added.

The World Nature Conservation Day is observed on July 28 with the aim of creating more awareness on the importance of protecting the environment.

The accompanying photos show some highlights of the activity.

Text & photos contributed