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

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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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Conference delivers real action to protect the oceans

 President Barack Obama delivering his remarks at Our Ocean 2016 Conference. Source - US Dept. of State

“We have to do things smarter and we have to do things faster”

Those were some words from John Kerry the United States Secretary of State as he opened the Our Ocean conference at the US State Department in Washington D.C. last week. Secretary Kerry was referring to the dire straits our ocean is in and the actions needed to reverse the trend.

“I grew up in Hawaii. The ocean is really nice there. And anybody who grows up on an island - certainly those of us who grew up in Hawaii - learn to appreciate very early on its magic, how it inspires awe, and sometimes, if the waves are a little too big and you’ve gone a little too far out, how it inspires fear and a healthy respect. And the notion that the ocean I grew up with is not something that I can pass on to my kids and my grandkids is unacceptable. It's unimaginable.” President Barrack Obama said at the Our Ocean Conference.

President Barrack Obama who was the keynote speaker at the conference said “the problem that confronts all of us today is that we’re asking far too much of our ocean in asking it to adapt to us”. Life on Earth depends on the ocean. A healthy ocean is central to human wellbeing. The ocean feeds billions of people, employs millions of workers, and generates trillions of dollars in the world economy.

 A breathtaking view of the ocean from the view point on Cousin Island Special Reserve, a Marine Protected Area

Yet, as vast as the ocean and its resources are, they are not infinite. And today the ocean is under tremendous pressure from human activity – including unsustainable and illegal fishing, marine pollution, and climate-related impacts: the majority of fishing zones of the world are depleted, coral reefs are dying and the ocean is acidifying.

The official mandate of the Our Ocean Conference is about taking actions for the ocean. It’s about conservation of marine ecosystems and sustainable use of marine resources – as the world agreed in the sustainable development goals. It’s about a blue economy in which science-based conservation and sustainable management of the ocean and its resources is the pathway to economic development and growth, not the obstacle.

“The main aim of the conference was to galvanize countries and institutions to do something real to protect this lifeblood of humanity. I’ve attended more than a hundred international conferences but this is the first time I’ve been to one where over 50 leaders ranging from President Obama, Foreign Ministers, CEOs of companies, heads of international NGOs and chairs of philanthropic institutions each made a concrete commitment to save our common ocean. In fact no one was allowed to speak unless he or she rolled something new out, be it technology, partnerships, funding or marine protected areas” said Dr. Nirmal Jivan Shah Chief Executive of Nature Seychelles who attended the 2 day conference.

 Shah announcing the launch of FAMS, a go-to resource for ocean science in the region

Indeed, in the plenary session of the conference Shah formally launched the Forum of African Marine Science (FAMS) a new network between science academies, universities, and organizations from over twelve African countries designed to enhance communication and collaboration on ocean science, host academic exchanges to strengthen local capacity, and support ocean and blue economy policy engagement across Africa.

“This is a unique association of senior academics and experts and we want to be a go-to resource for government, international organizations and donors” says Shah.

The Seychelles government announced that it will establish up to 400,000 square kilometers of marine protected area (30 percent of its EEZ) by 2020 as part of a comprehensive marine spatial plan for its entire EEZ via a debt swap of up to $27 million with its Paris Club creditors and the Government of South Africa, with the support of the Nature Conservancy and private capital investors interested in marine conservation. The announcement was made on the main stage by Ms. Rebecca Loustau Lallane the Principal Secretary of the Blue Economy Department who spoke on behalf of Mr. Jean Paul Adam the Minister of Finance, Trade and Blue Economy who missed the conference at the last moment owing to commitments back home.

 136 new initiatives, $5.24 billion, 4 million sq kilometers of the ocean to be protected

Shah, who admits he skips many international environmental conferences because they are simply “talk shops”, promising more than they actually deliver, says he was intrigued by the Our Ocean vision and mission and was persuaded to accept John Kerry’s invitation to the conference by Dr. Jane Lubchenco the White House Science Envoy for the Oceans who was in Seychelles recently.

“Although the conference was at such a senior level it was small and select compared to the massive summits nowadays, such as the recently concluded World Conservation Congress in Hawaii, where thousands of participants create a ‘Tower of Babel’ and prevent any real interaction. Here I was able to network with top people from key international organizations, companies, foundations and governments agencies” says Shah.

The conference was a huge success in terms of concrete commitments being rolled out. Participants announced over 136 new initiatives on marine conservation and protection valued at more than $5.24 billion, as well as new commitments on the protection of almost four million square kilometers (over 1.5 million square miles) of the ocean. The commitments focus on the key ocean issues of our time: marine protected areas, sustainable fisheries, marine pollution, and climate-related impacts on the ocean.

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Partners & Awards

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Our History

Since 1998.

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

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Centre for Environment & Education

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P.O. Box 1310, Mahe, Seychelles

Tel:+ 248 2519090

Email: nature@seychelles.net