News and Blogs

  1. Latest News
  2. Cousin Island News
  3. Blue Economy Seychelles
  4. Green Health Blog
  • Research: Roaming seabirds need ocean-wide protection, research shows

    Unlike other oceans, which are known to have specific “hotspots” where predators, including seabirds, gather in large numbers to feed, the Indian Ocean lacks such concentrated feeding areas, a recent paper has revealed. This lack of hotspots is particularly concerning given the various threats seabirds face due to human activities.[…]

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  • Saya de Malha leaves for its third dFAD clean-up expedition

    (Seychelles Nation) The Saya de Malha vessel of the Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG) left Port Victoria yesterday afternoon for its third drifting Fishing Aggregate Devices (dFAD) expedition clean-up exercise in Seychelles territorial waters and shores of the outer islands. As customary since the first expedition in October 2022, students from Seychelles[…]

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Coming Soon!

Coral Aquaculture Facility!

coral aquaculture web banner

We have started work on the Assisted Recovery of Corals (ARC) facility to revolutionise our coral reef restoration process Learn more

Find Us On ...

Implementing the SDGs

At Nature Seychelles we are committed to working with government, development partners and donors in implementing relevant actions, in particular, looking at certain goals where we can build on our existing strengths. Read more

Seychelles Wildlife

Natural environment of the Seychelles

Seychelles is a unique environment, which sustains a very special biodiversity. It is special for a number of different reasons. These are the oldest oceanic islands to be found anywhere...

Bird Watching

Seychelles is a paradise for birdwatchers, you can easily see the unique land birds, the important sea bird colonies, and the host of migrants and vagrants. Some sea bird...

Seychelles Black Parrot

Black Parrot or Kato Nwar in Creolee is brown-grey in colour, not truly black. Many bird experts treat it as a local form of a species found in Madagascar and...

Fairy Tern

The Fairy (or white) Tern is a beautiful bird seen on all islands in Seychelles, even islands like Mahe where they are killed by introduced rats, cats and Barn Owls....

Introduced Land Birds

A little over two hundred years ago, there were no humans living permanently in Seychelles. When settlement occurred, people naturally brought with them the animals and plants they needed to...

Native Birds

Although over 190 different species of bird have been seen on or around the central islands of Seychelles (and the number is increasing all the time), many of these are...

Migrant Shore Birds

Shallow seas and estuaries are very rich in invertebrate life. Many birds feed on the worms, crabs and shellfish in these habitats; often, they have long bills for probing sand...

Seychelles Magpie Robin

The most endangered of the endemic birds, Seychelles Magpie Robin or Pi Santez in Creole, came close to extinction in the late twentieth century; in 1970 there were only about...

Seychelles Blue Pigeon

The Seychelles Blue Pigeon or Pizon Olande in Creole, spends much of its life in the canopy of trees and eats the fruits of figs, bwa dir, ylang ylang and...

Seychelles White-eye

The Seychelles White-eye or Zwazo Linet in Creole, is rare and endemic. They may sometimes be seen in gardens and forest over 300m at La Misere, Cascade and a few...

Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher

The Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher or the Vev in Creole is endemic to Seychelles, you cannot find this bird anywhere else on earth. Although it was once widespread on...

Seychelles Sunbird

The tiny sunbird or Kolibri in Creole, is one of the few endemic species that has thrived since humans arrived in the Seychelles.

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Achievements

  • Stopped near extinctions of birds +

    Down-listing of the critically endangered Seychelles warbler from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened. Other Seychelles birds have also been saved including the Seychelles Magpie Robin, Seychelles Fody, and the Seychelles
  • Restored whole island ecosystems +

    We transformed Cousin Island from a coconut plantation to a thriving vibrant and diverse island ecosystem. Success achieved on Cousin was replicated on other islands with similar conservation activities.
  • Championed climate change solutions +

    Nature Seychelles has risen to the climate change challenge in our region in creative ways to adapt to the inevitable changing of times.
  • Education and Awareness +

    We have been at the forefront of environmental education, particularly with schools and Wildlife clubs
  • Sustainable Tourism +

    We manage the award-winning eco-tourism programme on Cousin Island started in 1970
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Carbon neutral nature reserve, powered by the sun

Seychelles' Minister for Environment, Energy & Climate change 'switching on the sun'

Hundreds of breeding seabirds fly above excitedly as if joining in the celebration of the moment the power was switched on. The Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Mr. Didier Dogley has just officially launched the installation of a solar power system on Cousin Island.

The successful installation of a second-generation Photovoltaic (PV) system on Cousin Island Special Reserve, which is managed by Nature Seychelles, means that the island is now fully powered by the sun.

“The government has been putting a lot of emphasis on renewable energy,” Minister Dogley said at the launch. “And we now have Cousin running on one hundred percent renewable energy. Nature Seychelles has always been innovative in the way that it works.”

 Minister Dogley and Dr Shah arriving on Cousin

The minister further added that he hopes that this type of technology can be applied to other islands in the Seychelles thus ensuring the protection of the environment which the country and its people are so dependent on, and which is cherished by those who visit the Seychelles.

The solar power system will not only save the organisation thousands of rupees in fuel used in running a generator, which itself needs regular maintenance, and replacement every two years; it will also make Cousin a real environment conservation success story. The switch to solar power will reduce the carbon emissions on Cousin Island by around 8.000kg annually and reduce the carbon credits Nature Seychelles purchases on the international market to ensure the carbon neutrality of the island.

  Minister Dogley meeting Cousin staff 

“This is a historic moment,” Dr Nirmal Shah, Nature Seychelles CEO says. “In the year 2000, Cousin became the first Island to be fully powered by solar. Ten years later we were the first nature reserve in the world to become carbon neutral. Fifteen years later, we now have a second generation PV solar system. The interesting thing is how we finally got it funded after we had gone from pillar to post trying to secure financing for this project.”

Indeed, the project was funded entirely through crowd funding, meeting and surpassing the target needed to pay for and import all the parts as well as installation fees. Crowd funding is a means of funding a project or venture, via the internet, by collecting small amounts of money from a large number of people worldwide. This type of funding is typically used to fund commercial innovations with a final product for sale, unlike with the solar power project on Cousin.

 A closer look at the the solar panels

Individuals were invited to donate £1 for each of the twelve hours the sun is out in the Seychelles Islands, totalling to a contribution of £12 each. The largest donation came from a UK energy company Utilitia. Other smaller donations came from an electrical engineering company named E.V Bullens, amongst other organisations via their corporate responsibility funds. The US Embassy contributed a substantial amount as well.

Mr. Tim Kirkpatrick, owner of Climate Caring, partnered with Nature Seychelles, and in April 2014 took on the task of the online campaign via Indiegogo, a crowd funding firm. Kirkpatrick, an electrical engineer, also installed the solar system after having worked for months on sourcing and importing the right parts from several countries.

 Kirkpatrick explaining how the solar installation works

“For the first time in a year I can sit here (in front of the Field Station on Cousin), have a cup of coffee and smile knowing that what we have achieved is remarkable.” Kirkpatrick said on the day the work was completed, as he looked over at the solar panels glistening in the bright afternoon sun. "I believe we have raised awareness on climate change, and not just in Seychelles.”

Nature Seychelles staff and volunteers on Cousin were all sunny smiles the morning after the solar power was turned on, happy to be able to have a fan on all night and charge their electrical gadgets. Normally, the generator was switched on for one hour in the morning, another hour around lunch time and six hours in the evening.

“It’s great to be able to see the colour of my tea when I’m up before sunrise,” joked Tom Hiney, Chief Warden on Cousin Island. “Aaah! Cold drinking water!” Kate Robinson, an international volunteer chimed in.

 

Partners & Awards

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Our History

Since 1998.

Seychelles Nature, Green HealthClimate Change, Biodiversity Conservation & Sustainability Organisation

@CousinIsland Manager

Facebook: http://goo.gl/Q9lXM

Roche Caiman, Mahe

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Contact Us

Centre for Environment & Education

Roche Caiman,

P.O. Box 1310, Mahe, Seychelles

Tel:+ 248 2519090

Email: nature@seychelles.net