Fond Ferdinand, PDF embrace special reserve status |01 August 2005

Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Ronny Jumeau and PDF chairman Michel Gardette signed a memorandum of understanding recently that will see the special reserve fall under the management of the PDF on a five-year basis.

Fond Ferdinand is considered a valuable area for biodiversity both on Praslin and for Seychelles at large. It is also home to more than 600 fruit-bearing coco de mer palms, not including an additional 5,000 growing coco de mer trees still too young to determine the sex.

The signing ceremony, held at the Seychelles People’s Progressive Front (SPPF) Grand Anse office, was attended by principal secretary Rolph Payet, Praslin’s MNAs, PDF board members and environment officials.

Shortly before signing the document, Minister Jumeau called the handover a “historic” one for the management of the country’s natural resources.

He noted that the government simply did not have the capacity, both in terms of financial and human resources, to administer all of the environmentally important areas of Seychelles, especially with there being so many.

The ministry considers Fond Ferdinand a pilot project of sorts in the “outsourcing” of the management of such areas.

But Minister Jumeau also pointed out that the concept of private stewardship for environment causes was nothing new, citing NGOs like Island Conservation Society and Nature Seychelles taking over Aride and Cousin, respectively, and other eco-friendly initiatives taken up by the civil society at large.

The main challenge for these organisations, he added, was not only to make conservation work, but to also be able to sustain – and profit from – such ventures without government assistance.

The PDF had actually assumed responsibility for Fond Ferdinand in 2000, but for the past five years the area did not have the legal backing as a special reserve.

Minister Jumeau noted that environment officials were comfortable with the handover as the PDF had already embarked on quite a few initiatives since 2000, in the fields of plant research and anti-poaching measures, for example.

After the signing, the minister and his entourage took a guided tour of Fond Ferdinand with Mr Gardette and PDF members, where they saw what is likely the shortest fruit bearing coco de mer tree in the world, as well as the eerily large freshwater eel named Goulou.

Speaking to reporters along one of the reserve’s nature trails, Mr Gardette said Fond Ferdinand becoming a special reserve, as opposed to a national park, would give the PDF stricter control of the area for its own protection.

The PDF’s operations at Fond Ferdinand are funded by the harvest of coco de mer nuts, and Mr Gardette said poaching was probably the PDF’s main concern.

Poaching had been effectively curbed at one point but there were signs that it was on the rise again, he said.

The PDF is looking into hiring additional security staff, and there are plans to seek help through the Swiss consulate to train a couple of Rottweilers as guard dogs, Mr Gardette added.

The organisation is welcoming visits from schools and the youth, and is also hoping Fond Ferdinand, along with its biodiversity hotspots, becomes popular with not only tourists but also with visiting research scientists and graduate students as a subject of study.