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Archive - Archive 2004 - July 2013

Seychelles' plant conservation strategy in focus at recent international conference |12 December 2005

Seychelles' plant conservation strategy in focus at recent international conference

The Seychelles National Strategy for Plant Conservation (NSPC) is rather unique in that it has been developed through a partnership between the Government of Seychelles and a local NGO, the Plant Conservation Action group (PCA). Key local stakeholders were also involved - in the analysis of the five main objectives of the Global Strategy and in the formulation of Targets and Actions required to take Seychelles forward in the field of plant conservation.

The Seychelles National Strategy for Plant Conservation was recently presented to participants at an international conference at Glasnevin (Dublin, Ireland) in a keynote speech by Denis Matatiken, the director of the Botanical Gardens at Mont Fleuri, who is currently studying for a Masters in Botanical Conservation at Plymouth University in UK.

Denis talked about the process, achievements and future challenges of the NSPC and also about the work of the driving force behind this strategy, the Plant Conservation Action group and the Botanical Gardens. "PCA and Seychelles were praised and it will be used as a case study," says Denis, "Everyone was impressed about the work that such a voluntary organisation has done in the past year, working hand in hand with the government". "The participants were amazed," he adds.

The goal of the conference was to bring together plant conservation scientists, policy makers and practitioners from throughout the world to share methods and results that will advance plant conservation. The conference was attended by over 100 participants from more than 37 countries, including two more members of PCA - Christoph Kueffer and Eva Schumacher, who earlier this year returned to their home country of Switzerland after spending three years in Seychelles doing field work in plant conservation for their doctorates. Christoph reports that Seychelles may be able to help with initiating national strategies in the Western Indian Ocean region or among SIDS countries, which could then use the Seychelles' strategy as a model. Eva and Christoph presented a poster on the collaboration of the Geobotanical Institute (Zurich, Switzerland) with organisations conducting plant conservation work in Seychelles. They emphasized that research institutions are a valuable partner for the implementation of the GSPC, not just through research but also by supporting capacity building, education and actual plant conservation work. For PCA the conference was a great opportunity to contact potential partners for the implementation of all NSPC targets.

It is just such a partnership, with Eden Project (UK), which has enabled the printing and publication of the NSPC. This colourful publication is now available in Seychelles. All stakeholders, organisations and experts who assisted in the development of the NSPC will receive a copy of the strategy. Others who are interested to acquire a copy should apply in the first instance to James Mougal, Botanical Gardens section, MENR, Mont Fleuri.

Further information about the conference and the NSPC will be found in the new issue of the PCA newsletter Kapisen, which will be released shortly. At the conference it was also said that "national champions or celebrities are needed to represent plant conservation". Who could this be in Seychelles? Any offers?

Contributed by the Plant Conservation Action group

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