Authorities restore coastal areas to curb erosion |22 November 2017

Workers from the climate change department in the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change in collaboration with the Cascade district administration have taken part in the restoration of the coastal embankment along the Providence highway.

Red mangroves, a species with long tilled roots which can keep sediments together and also serve as a wave barrier to limit erosion of the bank, have been planted along the edge of the lagoon while other coastal plants such as Bois de Rose, Veloutier and Porsee have been planted higher up on the dry area. The 500-metre long coastal line identified to be restored starts just a few metres from the airport roundabout, going down to Victoria.

The restoration of the area is to protect part of the highway, the biodiversity and people using the area. Motorists using the highway may not be aware that in some parts along the way, the out of view embankment along the area is being eroded and thus may affect the highway in future.

Since the reclamation of the east coast, some coastal parts have been spared from rock armoring and left in its natural state. The natural embankment along the coast is now being destabilised and eroded with the effect of losing large chunks of earth from fallen casuarinas trees which is one of the main trees on the reclamation land. The loosened soil is being swept away by the tide in the lagoon. The remaining casuarina trees close to the edge in the area have been cut down to make way for the restoration.

Jean-Claude Labrosse from the climate change division said: “If the erosion continues, we will have to take other measures such as rock armoring to protect the highway and this is something we do not want to do. We want the place to stay as natural as possible”.

He also stated that they also want to diversify the mangroves in the Cascade lagoon, which has only two varieties, so that its biodiversity will be enriched it terms of more fish, crabs and others such as birds that will come into the lagoon.

The Cascade district administrator, Lilianne Biong who along with a group from the district field technicians were helping with the restoration, said:

“This is a good initiative taken by the ministry to restore the area because when we travel along the highway, we do not realise or notice the impact of the situation. This is why the district is also engaged in the restoration process,” she said.

According to biologist consultant, Dr Elvin Henriette, the project to restore mangrove areas so as to protect infrastructure and the community, falls under the Eco system based adaptation south project (EbA) Seychelles-China and is funded by the Chinese government at a cost of  US $830,000.

Apart from Mahé where the restoration project is ongoing and being supervised at Anse Royale, Petit Barbarons and other places, restoration work is also being done at Anse Gouvernman and Au Cap on Praslin and on Curieuse Island.  

The EbA project for restoring mangrove areas in Seychelles started in 2015 and will end in July 2018.

The accompanying photos show the planting exercise in full swing.