Seychelles' marine spatial plan being finalised with 3 zones of allowable activities

These zones will now be fully safeguarded to encourage sustainable development and adapt to the effects of climate change. (Michael Scholl)

Seychelles will finalise its Marine Spatial Plan in December this year and move to the implementation of activities that will be allowed in the designated Marine Protected Areas, said the project manager on Wednesday.

Helena Sims gave an update on the developments of the plan to all partners concerned at a workshop held at Eden Bleu hotel.

"We are finalising what the allowable activities will be in the three different zones, and at the same time we are in a phase where we're transitioning into the implementation stage," she said.

In his opening address the principal secretary for environment, Dennis Matatiken said that the plan is an output of the Seychelles Debt-for-Climate-Adaptation Swap initiative co-designed by the government of Seychelles and The Nature Conservancy.

Through it, $4.9 million has been secured from The Nature Conservancy, Blue Nature Alliance, Oceans5, the Waitt Institute and the Waitt Foundation to support activities for the transition from zoning to implementation.

The Marine Spatial Plan divides Seychelles' waters into three zones.

Zone 1 is a high biodiversity protection zone as they tend to be habitats for rare or endangered species and according to the plan, these areas are not suitable for extraction or sea bed alteration.

Zone 2 in the plan covers areas of medium biodiversity protection which allows for sustainable use.

Sims said this zone "includes habitats and species that have some tolerance to disturbance and human activities and the reason why certain activities are allowed there with proper management."

Partners concerned got an update on the developments of the plan at a workshop held at Eden Bleu hotel. (Seychelles Nation) Photo License: CC-BY

"We have to keep in mind that since Seychelles' economy also depends on the sea, we could not prohibit all activities," explained Sims.

The fisheries sector is the second top contributor to the economy of Seychelles, a group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean.

Zone 3 has "high value and high priority areas for the marine sectors that use Seychelles' waters for economic, social and cultural benefits," she said.

The three zones cover 30 percent or 410,000 square kilometres of the island nation's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 1.4 million square kilometres. These zones will now be fully safeguarded to encourage sustainable development and adapt to the effects of climate change.

Matatiken said that as a small island nation with less than 1 percent land and 99 percent ocean, Seychelles' waters "means everything to us. It provides us with food, jobs, and is considered the foundation of our economy and the country's prosperity."

He added that with the designation of 30 percent of its waters as Marine Protected Areas, "Seychelles is one of a few countries that has exceeded the expectations of a global 30 by 30 target for land and sea areas."

The 30 by 30 target is an international initiative to protect at least 30 percent of Earth's land and sea by 2030

The island nation has also exceeded its 10 percent protection of its EEZ by 2020 commitment under the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14.5.