Seychelles creates new marine protected area in the Indian Ocean

Seychelles wants to preserve its waters, essential according to the government to the economic development of the country.

The government will establish a large marine protected area within the archipelago in the Indian Ocean which is 210,000 km², nearly 15% of Seychelles’ exclusive economic zone.

The reserve is part of the blue economy concept, in which Seychelles plans to develop its economy. This can only be effective if the private sector partners the government to ensure the implementation of the programme.

‘’ What happens in partnership is the sharing of experiences so that we do not repeat the mistakes that have been made, we share good practices, we also share the expertise of specialized international organizations that come to us give their experience. world would have done with regard to a particular area and that’s the blue economy. ‘’ said Vincent Meriton, Vice President of Seychelles.

The Seychelles government and the World Bank want to advance the program of maximizing funding for the development of the blue economy, with the aim of attracting investment to increase the resilience of ocean economies in Africa. Reason for the holding of an international conference on “Financing Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Ocean Economies in Africa”. Mark Lundell is the director of operations at the World Bank.

Good legislation and a favorable environment for some of the new sectors, including energy and some of the new ICT sectors, a strong potential for aquaculture growth, the following follow-up is to look specifically at each of these four areas and to be in touch with the private sector to see how the investments already planned can go forward. “

Maximizing funding for the development of the blue economy can be achieved by optimizing limited public resources and promoting private investment.

It also aims to improve knowledge and highlight innovative solutions on how Africa can maximize funding to support sustainable blue economy initiatives in selected sub-sectors. These include fisheries, aquaculture, waste management, marine and spatial planning, coastal resilience, tourism, energy and transportation.

By 2020, nearly one-third of Seychelles’ waters will be protected under a “marine spatial plan”, which will prevent unregulated or illegal fishing, as well as oil and gas exploration and development. mining and dredging in deep waters.