On the sidelines of the UN Environment Assembly   FAO to help Seychelles prepare a project on climate smart agriculture |09 March 2022

Minister Joubert meeting with Keriako Tobiko, cabinet secretary Ministry of Environment and Forestry in Kenya, last week

A delegation from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is expected in the country in April 2022 to gather information and conceptualize a project on climate smart agriculture for Seychelles.

This came to light during a meeting that a Seychelles delegation had on the sidelines of the United Nations Environment Assembly which was held in Nairobi from February 28 to March 4, 2022.

Seychelles was represented at the meeting by the Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment, Flavien Joubert, and the principal secretary for Environment, Denis Matatiken.

The Seychelles delegation met with representatives of the FAO to further discuss climate smart agriculture projects for Seychelles which would tap into current financing streams from GEF and Adaptation Fund.

FAO has agreed to collaborate with Seychelles in preparing a project on climate smart agriculture in November at the Glasgow climate and this meeting was aimed at further progress on this engagement.

A delegation from FAO is expected in the country in April 2022 to gather information and conceptualize the project.

The Seychelles delegation also held talks with Ambassador Peter Thompson, the UN secretary-general’s special envoy for the Ocean and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) about the Great Blue Wall Initiative. The initiative was launched at UNFCCC COP26 in Glascow in November 2021 with the purpose of establishing a network of marine and coastal conserved areas to benefit biodiversity and local livelihoods, empowering communities to become stewards of the ocean. The initiative will be led by government of the Western Indian Ocean region. A meeting will be held later this month in Seychelles to discuss how we will take this initiative forward as a region to the donors in the upcoming Ocean conference in Lisbon in June 2021. Seychelles is expected to play a key role in mobilising regional participation and also delivering the project to the global audience.

The minister also had discussions with the French ambassador for the Environment, Silvie Lemmet, on issues relating to hazardous waste movement in the western Indian Ocean and in particular challenges faced by La Reunion in moving waste to its final destination in Europe.

It was noted that the different countries of the region are facing similar challenges and that there is a need to establish a regional initiative that will address movement and control at a regional level.

The two parties agreed to develop further the issue through existing regional frameworks such as COI and Nairobi Convention and come up with concrete proposals in 2022.

Press release from the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment