UN Climate Change Conference (COP23) in Bonn, Germany Seychelles reaps benefits from side events |30 November 2017

Bilateral meetings with executive directors and organisations related to various environment issues like climate change and renewable energy were among the benefits that the Seychelles delegation gained at the recent UN Climate Change Conference (COP23) held in Bonn, Germany.

The Seychelles delegation was headed by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Climate Change, Didier Dogley.

According to the minister, he is disappointed with the amount and rate of financial assistance being given to small island states and developing countries of Africa to deal with those climatic problems we are experiencing like cyclone, coral bleaching, flooding, coastal erosion and also in providing us with the necessary technology to mitigate carbon emission.

A total sum of US $93.2 million has been agreed upon to be shared between all countries, with Germany donating US $50 million, which the minister said is not enough as 100 billion per year were promised during the Paris Agreement.

The minister said it cannot be that us small countries who have done nothing to affect the climate, who should be digging in our pockets to fund such issues.

Minister Dogley was speaking during a briefing on Seychelles participation at the conference held from November 6 – 17, 2017.

He was in the presence of his principal secretary for energy and climate change, Wills Agricole and a youth representation led by Santasha Barbe from the Small Island Developing States (Sids) Youth Aims Hub (SYAH) Seychelles.

“Besides taking part in the negotiations and discussions and the visibility gained through our participations in side events where we were very active, everybody recognised the efforts Seychelles is doing where we are not only complaining but also coming up with valuable solutions,” said Minister Dogley.

He said he used the opportunities offered through those bilateral meetings with leaders of different collateral organisations present to discuss Seychelles the plight of Seychelles with regard to climate change, seeking their assistance in helping the country mitigate those effects.

Discussions held with prominent leaders were in renewable energy in the aspect of training of our locals in that sector like having trainers based at the Seychelles Institute of Technology to train technicians in solar panels, water heaters etc..

With Singapore, the minister’s discussions were based on building codes because in order to have efficiency in renewable energy, you need to have guidelines and codes on how best to construct your buildings to reap the maximum benefit from those gadgets.

“We can learn from what they have done and adapt them to Seychelles,” said the minister.

Financial assistance has also been confirmed from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) which will be available soon.

Also in the pipeline is assistance from the Green Climate Fund which funds climate change related projects.

“In fact there is a project we are working on worth US $29 million to revamp our electricity network to make it more compatible with renewable energy,” said the minister.

He said the Green Climate Fund has also offered to help the country in various other fields in relation to its mandate and one such request is to assist Seychelles in its adaptation plan.

The way forward is that Seychelles needs to prepare for the next COP in Poland next year where the big decisions will be taken.

Meetings will also take place before that to make sure the framework for the implementation of the Paris Agreement are put into place.

The next thing is to follow up on the discussions held with various organisations and executive directors.

In January next year there will be the Sustainable Week meeting in Abu Dhabi where everybody will be participating. 

Also there is the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) which is the main tool to implement the Paris Agreement which needs to be reviewed.

The minister added they will be following up with the NDC partnership for them to finance that document.