Nature is our best defence. Taking climate action and fighting fires in the Seychelles. Stories of GEF Small Grants Programme, UNDP
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UNCCD Library
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Web resource
‘Protecting nature makes me very happy in life’, says Victorin Laboudallon. ‘We need to protect it as much as we can, so future generations can enjoy it like I did when I was a kid’. Victorin Laboudallon, frequently considered the ‘Father of Seychelles Conservation’, established the Terrestrial Restoration Action Society of Seychelles (TRASS) in 2010.
Laboudallon, 65, has built a network of volunteers, from children to retirees, whom he calls upon to help him with replanting. Together with over 3,000 volunteers, he leads TRASS’s rehabilitation efforts replanting over 15,000 trees every year.
Laboudallon embodies the sentiment that a society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main ...
The Seychelles is an archipelago of 115 coralline and granitic islands located in the Indian Ocean, and is often associated with exotic beaches, turquoise waters, rich coral reefs, and lush tropical forests. In the minds of many, it is an isolated paradise and the perfect escape from quotidian concerns.
This picture-postcard view is common for many Small Island Developing States, however climate change presents a very different reality for these vulnerable island nations.
SIDS often experience acceleration or intensification of climate change impacts due to their small land areas, susceptibility to natural disasters, geographical isolation, limited natural resources, and sensitive ecosystems.
These variations in climate not only affect the environment and resilience of natural ecosystems, but also have ripple effects on every sector of the economy and society including economic stability, agriculture and food security, water access and sanitation, health and well-being, tourism, and livelihoods.
In Seychelles, rainfall variability, drought, flooding, coral bleaching, sea level rise, and coastal erosion represent the earliest effects of climate change.
Over 2,000 seedlings were produced in the TRASS nursery for the project. This involved collecting and propagating native seedlings and plant cuttings from other forested areas on the island. This nursery is one of the largest in the Seychelles, and the only one located on Praslin.
Read the whole story from the link above
Laboudallon, 65, has built a network of volunteers, from children to retirees, whom he calls upon to help him with replanting. Together with over 3,000 volunteers, he leads TRASS’s rehabilitation efforts replanting over 15,000 trees every year.
Laboudallon embodies the sentiment that a society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main ...
The Seychelles is an archipelago of 115 coralline and granitic islands located in the Indian Ocean, and is often associated with exotic beaches, turquoise waters, rich coral reefs, and lush tropical forests. In the minds of many, it is an isolated paradise and the perfect escape from quotidian concerns.
This picture-postcard view is common for many Small Island Developing States, however climate change presents a very different reality for these vulnerable island nations.
SIDS often experience acceleration or intensification of climate change impacts due to their small land areas, susceptibility to natural disasters, geographical isolation, limited natural resources, and sensitive ecosystems.
These variations in climate not only affect the environment and resilience of natural ecosystems, but also have ripple effects on every sector of the economy and society including economic stability, agriculture and food security, water access and sanitation, health and well-being, tourism, and livelihoods.
In Seychelles, rainfall variability, drought, flooding, coral bleaching, sea level rise, and coastal erosion represent the earliest effects of climate change.
Over 2,000 seedlings were produced in the TRASS nursery for the project. This involved collecting and propagating native seedlings and plant cuttings from other forested areas on the island. This nursery is one of the largest in the Seychelles, and the only one located on Praslin.
Read the whole story from the link above
Keywords
human story
biodiversity conservation
forests
Small Island Developing States (SIDS)
reforestation