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.”
