Project Name: Enhancing coastal and marine socio-ecological resilience and biodiversity conservation in the Western Indian Ocean.
Funded by: The German International Climate Initiative (IKI) through the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB).
Coordinated by: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Covering: Mozambique and Seychelles with collaboration from Kenya and Tanzania.
Implemented in Seychelles by: Nature Seychelles

The Western Indian Ocean region lacks coherent systems of governance to support more diverse management of marine and coastal resources by local people and civil society actors. As a result, the local-level benefits from conservation are inadequately maximised, as resource users rarely play an equitable role in decision- making and responsibility for formal marine protected areas. Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs) are still a relatively new concept in the region, and therefore their geographic scope is currently limited. The project will engage at multiple levels in order to establish LMMAs. The total project budget is 4.25 million Euros from the IKI fund with matching funding from implementing partners.

Co-management is included in the Protected Areas Policy of Seychelles and is enshrined in the new draft National Parks and Reserves Bill. In addition, other developments such as the establishment of PPP policy (Private and Public Partnerships) for Seychelles and co-management of fisheries around Praslin Island are all relevant. In Seychelles the project will be implemented by Nature Seychelles, an IUCN Member. The project will last for 4 years and has political support from the MEECC and the Blue Economy Department. The budget from IKI is Euros 680,000.00. With counterpart funding from Nature Seychelles and technical, and capacity building assistance from IUCN, the project will cost almost a million Euros for the Seychelles component.

The project will hire several full time technical and field staff and work with stakeholders including community members, fishers association, tourism and business partners, and government agencies in one site chosen through assessments and participatory processes. At the site level, the project will, with the collaboration of the community and others build infrastructure, such as a visitors facility and a lifeguard station, undertake conservation and restoration actions, provide training and equipment, deliver public awareness programs, support sustainable tourism and fisheries and promote sustainable funding mechanisms. At a strategic level it will: 1. assist in strengthening the enabling institutional environment through policy influencing, advocacy, awareness and capacity building at national levels, and 2. promote international inputs such as the Green List system for certification of protected areas, as well as regional collaboration.

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. During the Ocean Conference held in New York between 5th and 9th June 2017, Nature Seychelles became a partner in the MARECO Project which will work to Increase the awareness of children for the sustainable use of Coral Reefs and their resources. Through our Marine Conservation and Reef Rescuers work, we continue to be committed to the Call for Action (Our Ocean, Our Future) as outlined vis-à-vis the Ocean Goal.

Other SDG goals in which we have existing projects include: (3) Good Health – Green Health Program; (7) Renewable Energy – Solar Power on Cousin Island; (8) Good Jobs & Economic Growth – 13^th Month Salary; (9) Innovation & Infrastructure – Blue Economy Knowledge Centre; (11) Sustainable Cities & Communities – Urban Wetland Management (13) Climate Action – Reef Rescuers Project; (14) Life Below Water – Marine Reserve on Cousin; (15) Life on Land – Wildlife Habitat on Cousin (17) Partnership for the Goals – Geffroys, MTC, Min of Agriculture, Rotary,  Kreolor,

We are actively seeking new partners and sources of funding to move the SDGs from agenda to action in Seychelles. Please contact us on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.    

The original Blue Economy concept by Gunter Pauli was to look for the best nature-inspired technologies to shift society from scarcity to abundance by tackling environmental and other problems in new ways. The Seychelles is championing the “Blue Economy” as its future sustainable development model. At the moment there is a need to elucidate, at the least, the corners of what is meant by the Blue Economy for Seychelles as it may be all things to all men and women.

At Nature Seychelles we are convinced that the Seychelles Blue Economy model must offer a new analytical framework as well as a new way of crafting our common future. We have established a Blue Economy centre which will assist in building the content of the Seychelles Blue Economy model. The centre is headed by Ms. Kerstin Henri an experienced Seychellois economist who has worked in the developmental and environmental fields in Seychelles for over 20 years.

The centre will bring together the best practices and knowledge from various programs that Nature Seychelles is working in including research, eco-tourism, coastal & marine conservation and restoration, and climate change adaptation, as well as contributions from national and international partners. The centre will seek to source funding for innovative projects that will contribute to the building blocks of the Seychelles’ Blue Economy. 

Find us on: