Children learn about impact of debris on Aldabra |18 August 2020

The children busy with their art work (Photo: Jude Morel)

School children who are registered club members with the Natural History Museum are since yesterday enjoying a series of activities organised by the museum for the August school holidays.

The two-week activities are being held at the National Museum of History on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays due to the Natural History Museum being under renovation.

In its first activities a group of children learned about the impact of marine debris on Aldabra from Emeline Lafortune from the Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF). They also did art work with some of the marine waste from the atoll.

Assistant museum curator, Nicole Barreau, said the aim of these activities is to help boost the children’s personal development especially with their studies with regard to the history of Seychelles.

She said that due to Covid-19, they have limited the number of children attending the programmes as well as excluded visits to other places.

During the two weeks the children are expected to follow presentations on sea turtle preservations in the Seychelles and the work being done to preserve them, to differentiate between sea grasses and seaweeds, learn about Seychelles biodiversity and also learn about the importance of museums including designing of jigsaw puzzles and mounting of own exhibitions among other practical works. The activities take place from 9am to 2.30pm.

In February and March 2019, a group of students from the Queen’s College in England and a group of young volunteers from the Seychelles carried out a five-week expedition to Aldabra to clear the atoll of man-made rubbish, mostly plastic. They tried to remove as much debris as possible so as to return the island to its former pristine state. Their actions shed light on the situation in Aldabra and called for the reduction of plastic waste, for the benefit of our oceans and natural ecosystems.

Patrick Joubert