SIF staff member attends Earthwatch capacity building training |29 August 2017

Earthwatch is a non-profit organisation that since 1971 has been working towards engaging

people worldwide in scientific research and education in order to promote sustainable environmental practices. For the past several years Earthwatch has been providing annual training courses in Seychelles. Shanone Adeline, the invasive species technical officer in the Vallée de Mai research team, recently took part in a capacity building training with Earthwatch.

This year’s training was conducted by Dr Julian Clifton from the University of Western Australia,

Dr Eslam Osman from the University of Essex and Lucy Goodman from Earthwatch. It was held on Praslin for two weeks and was attended by six participants, hailing from Kenya, Mauritius and Seychelles.

The training included designing research questionnaires and conducting semi-structured interviews with members of the hotel industry as well as community members.

Data analysis methods were taught to produce summary statistics and participants had to  prepare and deliver a presentation.

Many of the activities included working as a team, a vital skill in conservation.

After conducting surveys the team entered data in excel sheets, and performed their own data cleaning and analysis, producing a statistical summary of the data collected, the results of which were then presented to the tutors.

During the training participants were given the opportunity to attend a presentation on coral ecology and the projects for the rehabilitation of reefs by different organisations. Allen Cedras from Seychelles National Parks Authority gave a talk about his past work on Curieuse Island. The group also had the opportunity to meet project funders and long-time Earthwatch supporters, the Mitsubishi  Company.

At the end of the training programme certificates were distributed to each participant. Continued capacity building is vital for the continued growth of conservation in Seychelles and SIF would like to sincerely thank Earthwatch and all course trainers and supporters for once again hosting a successful course.

Contributed