Minister Flavien Joubert’s message on World Desertification and Drought Day |17 June 2021
Minister Joubert
‘Let us restore and give value to our land’
“We can all contribute to land restoration by planting three trees to every tree we cut. Let us restore and give value to our land.”
This comes in a message from the Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change & Environment, Flavien Joubert, on the occasion of the World Desertification and Drought Day being celebrated today, June 17.
The full text of Minister Joubert’s message reads:
“Today, June 17, is the World Desertification and Drought Day. Activities are organised globally to raise awareness of the presence of desertification and drought, and highlights ways to prevent desertification and actions to recover from drought.
“This year’s event is being celebrated under the theme ‘Restoration, Land, Recovery; We Build Back Better with Healthy Land’.
“Even though the occurrence of land degradation in Seychelles can be considered as low, we continue to face threats such as loss of biodiversity, forest fires, pollution climate change and erosion. These threats can eventually lead to land degradation and loss of ecosystem services.
“In Seychelles, the impacts of erosion along the coast has now become more apparent, threatening coastal infrastructure. Vegetation have been removed in certain places and the soil has lost their holding properties. Continuous trampling also impact in those areas. In many areas around Mahé, the ministry had to intervene by placing barriers and bollards to restrict vehicle movement. Vegetation can then naturally grow back to protect the beach as is the case at Au Cap.
“We have also seen the impacts that forest fires have had on Praslin. Large areas have been degraded and in certain areas they are devoid of vegetation. Certain environmental groups such as TRASS have been working in close collaboration with other stakeholder’s public and private sector to restore the degraded areas. The ministry acknowledges the works being done by these organisations and call on everyone to assist in this process.
“When land is rehabilitated, other aspects of life such as social conditions and economies are also improved. As the world continues to face challenges which are interlinked and which places many pressures on our natural resources, everyone is being called to participate and finding ways to strengthen relationships to achieve land restoration targets. We need to take actions now. We can all contribute to this process by planting three trees to every tree we cut. Let us restore and give value to our land. I echoed this same message for Environment day.
“The Covid-19 pandemic calls for us to relook at ways we can help to restore land in the most manageable ways. I also called on such initiatives can create jobs, and improve the livelihood of communities. The pandemic reiterates the fact that there is a need to develop a better relationship between nature and economic recovery.
“This is the time for us to build back and achieve a healthier land.”
Flavien Joubert
Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change & Environment
