Podcast: Mitigating carbon footprints in tourism & transplanting coral with Dr. Nirmal Shah

Nature Seychelles' Chief Executive Dr. Nirmal Shah recently sat down with Emil Walker of Inside the Ride Podcast series to talk about his conservation experiences. Hugely passionate about the environment, especially that of the Seychelles, he has worked over 35 years in environmental conservation. He is an advocate of educating and inspiring the younger generation to learn more about our planet and the magnificent ecosystems that need to be protected. 

Below is an intro to the podcast.

"DR. Nirmal Shah is an environmental scientist from the Seychelles, which is an archipelago of 115 islands off the east coast of Africa. He’s the chief executive of Nature Seychelles, an NGO that was founded 20 years ago to improve conservation and biodiversity through scientific, management, educational and training programmes. Since then the organisation has been involved in countless conservation success stories. A large majority of their work takes place on Cousin Island which was purchased in 1968 by the International Council for the Protection of Birds and in 2009 this island became the worlds first carbon neutral nature reserve. The island itself absorbs a certain amount of carbon to offset a portion of the visiting tourists long haul flights, hotels and local transpiration. The rest is purchased in carbon credits from projects that meet a certain, eligible criteria. One we discussed in particular is an initiative in Sudan that buys new, more efficient cooking stoves for families in less developed areas to lower their emissions and also stops them from cutting down trees for fire wood. One of the biggest projects Nature Seychelles is involved with is coral reef restoration, growing corals in labs and transplanting them into the sea. Coral bleaching, due to the warming oceans is a huge issue our planet currently faces and has caused over 50% of coral reefs to die in the past 30 years. El Niño is an irregular series of climate changes that affect the pacific and cause unusually warm, nutrient poor waters. Nirmal talks about the knock on effects this has had on the marine eco systems in the Seychelles and what it could mean for coral if the temperatures don’t begin to drop soon. He’s the oldest environmentalist to be working in the Seychelles and talks about a time when he was unable to visit his local market due to am environmental law he managed to get put in place… Nirmal a huge advocate of educating and inspiring the younger generation to learn more about our planet and the magnificent eco systems that need to be protected. Twenty years ago he founded Seychelles wildlife clubs in local schools which have now developed into quite a few initiatives organised by young people around things like recycling and habitat preservation.  I’m extremely grateful he managed to make the time for this conversation, it was truly inspiring to hear about the projects and work he's dedicated his life to and cannot thank him enough for getting involved."

Follow this link to listen to the Podcast: #25 Mitigating carbon footprints in tourism & transplanting coral with DR. Nirmal Shah