SEYCHELLES ISLAND FOUNDATION GETS EU GRANT TO FIGHT ‘INVASIVE SPECIES’
The European Union has awarded the Seychelles Island Foundation a grant of over 800.000 Euros after approving a project drawn up and designed by SIF recently.
The foundation is tasked to look after two crucially important UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the visitor magnet ‘Vallee de Mai’ on the island of Praslin, and further away, but not less significant, the Aldabra Atoll, which the government of Seychelles has set aside for research and environmental monitoring, and to a lesser extent for tourism purposes. Visitors to the atoll however can only ‘land’ during daylight hours and must spend their overnights on their yachts, as besides the research teams no accommodation facilities are allowed on the atoll to minimise the impact of human presence.
Dr. Frauke Fleischer-Dogley, Chief Executive of the SIF – an extensive interview with her was published in eTN a year ago – was at hand to sign the documents and expressed her delight that the project was chosen for financing which will allow SIF now to take stock of any invasive species of plants and animals found in the two sites and devise appropriate and adequate measures to removing such species from the WHS’ for good.
The duration of the project is initially set to run for four years but regular monitoring and reports from the sites will allow information updates here, as and when available.
Watch this space.
