To mark the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB), Nature Seychelles, in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Energy, and Natural Resources (MECENR), has rolled out WETSAPP – the Wetland Evaluation and Tracking Seychelles app.
The official launch took place at L’Escale Resort on Thursday, May 21, with Minister Marie-May Jérémie, representatives from the Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT), government officials, and private sector partners dedicated to safeguarding wetlands across Mahé in attendance.
WETSAPP is the latest development in a journey that began during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen Nature Seychelles respond to a pressing challenge: creating conservation tools and systems that are resilient, digital, and ready for the future.
The official launch took place at L’Escale Resort on Thursday, May 21
“Conservationists need to transition from being mere consumers of technology to becoming its drivers and innovators,” Dr. Nirmal Shah, Chief Executive of Nature Seychelles.
This has led to the Smart Islands / Tech for Nature initiative – a suite of digital tools developed through top-notch co-creation partnerships and funding.
They include the world’s first nature NFT for conservation finance, NEST for real-time monitoring of sea turtle nests, DREAM to track underwater parameters, a high-speed 5GHz microwave internet link from Praslin to Cousin Island, ARM (App for Reserve Management) to digitize Cousin Island’s monitoring and data collecting, automated GPS tracking for Aldabra Giant Tortoises, converted drones for habitat mapping, and the ARC Facility: a premier coral restoration hub using micro-fragmentation and hosting the first coral spawning lab.
Introducing WETSAPP
The wetlands app was created to provide consistent, accessible data for critical wetlands across Mahe.
It took six months to develop and has been shaped by the direct input of the dedicated LEAP team at Nature Seychelles, who are managing the “Wetlands of Hope” project. It was developed and customised for local field conditions by data scientist Dr. Jessica Nasica, who said the app leveraged the proven architecture of the ARM platform, which she also developed.
WETSAPP features a bilingual (English and Creole) interface that works entirely offline, making it accessible for remote fieldwork. Users can instantly record field data across three vital areas: Wetland Biodiversity, Wetland Health, and Wetland Threats.
The app was developed by data scientist Dr. Jessica Nasica (L) with direct imput from the LEAP team
The app automates administrative tasks by autocapturing GPS coordinates, photos, and tidal conditions. Different user tiers unlock interactive dashboards, species mapping, and single-click AI reporting tools to accelerate environmental management.
The Wetlands of Hope initiative brings together private sector partners, including Air Seychelles, Absa Bank, Avani Barbarons, Canopy by Hilton, Constance Ephelia, and Kempinski, along with local communities and school clubs, to oversee wetland management across Mahe.
“For the first time, all these partners will be using a single, standardised platform to record their observations, making the data accessible and ready for analysis right away,” said Corinne Julie, the project’s technical manager.
Jean-Claude Labrosse from the Ministry of Environment applauded the transition from labour-intensive methods to automated efficiency: “This technology will assist the ministry in conducting inventories in our wetlands,” Labrosse explained. “It allows users to gather information on-site, capturing data and automatically uploading it when an internet connection is available. This will speed up our work and ensure that no data is lost.”
Invited guests at the reveal checking out the app
Looking ahead, Labrosse noted the app will support a broader national inventory to fulfil Seychelles’ international commitments under the Ramsar Convention. “We aim to do a national inventory, and this will help us to add other sites to this system so that all areas can be accessed… The app has come at the right time.”
Beyond data collection, the app embodies a deeper philosophy of people engagement. Dr. Nirmal Shah put the mission into perspective:
“Biodiversity is very important for Seychellois because it’s not just rare species. It’s everything we see around us – the sea, the land, our mountains, our wetlands, our coral reefs. We encourage people to become engaged by making it exciting. The technology is a fun part of it, where everybody can get involved in protecting biodiversity,” he said.
WETSAPP was funded by the European Union and SeyCCAT.