Students mark World Wetlands Day with hands-on activities at the Sanctuary at Roche Caiman

On Monday morning The Sanctuary at Roche Caiman was a hive of activities with nearly fifty students from the International School Seychelles (ISS) working on the site. The students and their teachers were at The Sanctuary to mark World Wetlands Day which is celebrated every year on the 2nd of February. The theme for this year’s World Wetlands Day is ‘Wetlands For Our Future’ and what better way to celebrate it than with the future generation?

On the 2nd of February, individuals, groups and organisations the world over will be marking World Wetlands Day; Nature Seychelles will not be left out as it runs the only managed urban wetland in Seychelles – The Sanctuary at Roche Caiman. World Wetlands Day is marked on the day of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands in 1971 in the city of Ramsar in Iran.

A white-tip reef shark is a sign of a healthy reef photo by Phanor Montoya-Maya

In the past few weeks, Nature Seychelles staff working on Cousin Island Special Reserve and in the Reef Rescuers project have sent in interesting reports and photographs of activities going on in the sea. From sightings of sharks devouring a sperm whale, to sting ray pile ups and just the general beauty of the underwater world.

A vast variety of trash washes up on the otherwise pristine beaches of Cousin Island

In a recent study by conservation scientists from BirdLife International, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), findings ranked Seychelles among the five small island states that led in conservation of threatened species worldwide. A great triumph for the country.