Ephelia national winner of 2020 Energy Globe Award |10 September 2020
Ephelia national winner of 2020 Energy Globe Award
Constance Ephelia Resort Seychelles has been named the national winner of the 2020 Energy Globe Award thanks to its community based management of the Port Launay mangrove Ramsar site project.
The mangrove conservation initiative will now go on to represent Seychelles in the international Energy Globe Award.
With more than 180 participating countries, the Energy Globe Award is today’s most prestigious environmental award. It is awarded annually to projects saving our environment by personal action, sustainable projects or campaigns for raising awareness in sustainability.
The winning mangrove project forms part of the four-star resort’s ECO-initiative, kicked off in 2011, to follow a sustainable approach by improving the management of biodiversity in and around the resort in collaboration with the community and to minimise the impact of the operations and activities on the immediate environment.
“Constance Ephelia is delighted to have won this prestigious award and I would like to sincerely thank all the concerned individuals who have actively and consistently contributed to protect and conserve our unique Mangrove Ramsar site,” commented Ephelia’s general manager Stephane Duchenne.
The Constance team behind the community-based management of the Port Launay Mangrove Ramsar site project works hand in hand with local non-governmental organisations (NGO), the Port Glaud environment club and the government to ensure sustainable practices along the coast and in the surrounding environment.
Its overarching aim is the improvement of the management of coastal resources by building the community's capacity to sustainably manage the wetlands.
The established mangrove management plan included a mangrove tree nursery in which 3,000 seedlings were planted in pots and later transplanted in degraded areas.
Putting environmental education as a priority, interpretive signboards were also installed to raise awareness of the importance of various habitats; an educational video and a green brochure was implemented to highlight to guests all the environmental features of the resort and provide tips on how to have an eco-friendly holiday.
On the occasion of the World Mangrove Day, Constance Ephelia officially opened a mangrove boardwalk within the community for the public to learn about this precious mangrove habitat.
In addition, the resort is constantly cooperating with the authorities or private schools as well as the Wildlife Clubs of Seychelles by welcoming students to participate in planting or clean-up activities focusing on the regeneration of degraded areas and to learn about best management practices of the mangrove wetlands and sustainable tourism.
Within the last four years, a total of 2,150 students and community members visited the resort for sustainability and environmental education tours.
The Port Launay wetlands cover an area of 120.6 hectares and are one of the rare high-diversity mangrove areas in Seychelles, being home to all the seven species of mangroves.
Approximately two thirds of the wetlands fall within the boundaries of the Constance Ephelia Resort of Seychelles.
Mangrove wetlands are widely recognised to be valuable eco-systems, contributing to the health of coastal ecosystems by filtering sediments and other run off from the land, providing nursery space for many coral reef species, and also acting as a buffer to protect the coast from storms and the impacts of climate change, including storm surges, sea level rise and erosion.
Ephelia Resort/Elsie Pointe
