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S4S promotes Global Day of Action for Climate Change |29 September 2014


The non-governmental organisation Sustainability for Seychelles (S4S) coordinated two climate action events on Sunday September 21 with partners to commemorate Global Day of Action for Climate Change.

The global event was coordinated by Avaaz and 350.org, international organisations dedicated to climate change awareness-raising.
One event was a road race at Anse à la Mouche and the second one was on Praslin where Octopus Divers hosted a special event for experienced divers to learn more on how climate change is affecting corals.

There were actions and events which took place in almost every country around the globe with the aim of showing government leaders that the people of the world demand action to stop climate change.

On Mahé, the Seychelles Cycling Association (SCA) hosted a road race dedicated to raising awareness of climate change and how riding a bike is a viable alternative to cars. The 80km race started at Anse à la Mouche at 6.30am and finished by the public beach park. The winner was Dominic Arrisol. The park was officially opened recently after the government has had to take action to stop the beach from eroding away due to sea level rise and storm surges. Members of the public cheered the riders and joined in the prize giving ceremony later on. This event formed part of a 350.org GLOBAL POWER SHIFT initiative being implemented by S4S with the SCA and was funded by 350.org.


During the second event on Praslin the organisers also took part in a diving activity to compare healthy and bleached corals and learn more about coral reef restoration efforts. These efforts are being undertaken by partners like SNPA, Octopus and Nature Seychelles.

Octopus Divers on Praslin commemorated the event with a talk on coral and how climate change affects the reef.  The diving company said their interest for coral is not new as they have been conducting different experimentations in recent years. The last one started six months ago with three children and one biology teacher, Danny Cross, from Vijay International School on Praslin. Three different methods were tried to fix free recruits of coral on the moving rubble on Therese Rock located in front of Anse Matelot.


The first method was on metal structure, the second one on metal fish trap given by the Seychelles National Parks Authority (SNPA), and the third method was with marine cement.

Danny Cross explained that since El Nino in 1998 that caused damage on reefs in Seychelles, the corals have been recovering in quality and diversity but they are still subjected to various threats due to global warming and pollution.

Candice and Zoe, both 15 years old, explained the specificity of Therese Rock and its rubble and why Octopus Divers decided to work on stabilising the soil there.


Divers were invited after the presentation to discover Octopus Divers’ underwater experiments.
A beach cleaning that was planned at the end of the activity had to be cancelled as the tide was too hide; the rain was threatening and it was already late in the afternoon.

“Next time!,” said Octopus Divers.

 

 

 

 

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