Seychelles – Sri Lanka : Meeting maritime conservation goals

Water is an important resource, key to development and life. Fresh water is being depleted or contaminated by pollution daily. Pollution and sediment due to land activities degrade coastal zones and marine areas, especially corals and fish. We need to work together with clear guidelines and monitoring programmes to make sure we are doing our best to safeguard water resources. The conference tries to address these issues and find financing, especially for developing countries. It is the first time that this conference is organised in our region. The organising body – Global Environment Facility (GEF) – is financing huge projects around the world

Although relations between Seychelles and Sri Lanka go back about 27 years, there was a boost in diplomatic relations in the recent past with the opening of Sri Lankan and Seychelles embassies in 2014. Apart from cooperation in tourism, the most notable area of cooperation is in the maritime sector. Seychelles employs a large number of teachers from Sri Lanka apart from other professionals and has a sizeable Sri Lankan community working in Seychelles.

Seychelles’ economy mostly depends on eco-tourism and gives emphasis to environmental conservation and energy security. Seychelles Environment, Energy and Climate Change Minister Didlier Dogley spoke in detail with the Daily News about his government’s efforts to achieve energy conservation goals, while he was here to participate in the Inter-Water Resource Management Conference organised by the Global Environment Facility at Negombo, recently.

Following are extracts of the interview:

Seychelles Environment, Energy and Climate Change Minister Didlier Dogley

Q: What are the key areas under discussion at the conference?

A: Over 300 participants in the International Water Resource Management Conference, working on trans-boundary and marine water issues, share experiences at this conference to find ways for upscale financing and technology to tackle problems internationally.

Water is an important resource, key to development and life. Fresh water is being depleted or contaminated by pollution daily. Pollution and sediment due to land activities degrade coastal zones and marine areas, especially corals and fish. We need to work together with clear guidelines and monitoring programmes to make sure we are doing our best to safeguard water resources. The conference tries to address these issues and find financing, especially for developing countries. It is the first time that this conference is organised in our region. The organising body – Global Environment Facility (GEF) – is financing huge projects around the world.

One of the areas that we talked about is the high seas, especially between Seychelles and Mauritius. GEF will be providing assistance to resolve issues in this regard.

Q: Should we be worried at the rate at which climate change is affecting the environment?

A: We should be very worried. There is massive coral bleaching all over India and it can be seen in the South of Sri Lanka as well. Even Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is affected. If we lose our corals, we lose our marine life and this will erode coastal areas. Seychelles depends a lot, not only on tourism but also on fisheries. Our tourism depends on the quality of the coastal environment. So it is important to bring measures to protect our marine environment.

Q: Would mega projects such as land reclamation have detrimental impacts on marine life?

A: I think the process of how you do it needs to be very clear. Even in the Seychelles we had to reclaim land. But the way you do it should be a well thought-out process.

There needs to be an Environment Impact Assessment and people should be consulted.

There should also be an Economic Benefit Analysis to see if the project makes sense in the long term. But I don’t think reclamation is a totally bad thing but it needs to be thought-out properly and objectively.

Q: What are the Seychelles’ key energy conservation programmes?

A: We are very much for energy conservation and sustainable development. We are doing a study right now, after the government took a decision to go for 100 percent renewable energy. At the moment, we depend on fossil fuels and we import heavy oils for electricity.

That costs us about 10 percent of our GDP of our annual national budget. If you take that money and invest in solar and wind energy, we can become totally independent. Countries have signed the Paris Agreement to reduce their carbon footprint. We have obligations to meet. First you need to achieve energy security, which means you don’t depend on fuel from outside.

Q: How are the Seychelles and Sri Lanka cooperating on conserving the marine environment?

A: We’ve got excellent working relations with the government of Sri Lanka. The Colombo International Nautical Engineering College (CINEC) – the marine campus – has signed an agreement with our maritime school whereby our sea-men and women are trained to be able to manage and tap into our marine environment.

Our fisheries industry boats are being built in Sri Lanka. On the maritime side, there is a lot of cooperation between Sri Lanka and Seychelles.

Q: What are the best practices adopted by Seychelles for waste management and protecting bio-diversity?

A: We are concerned about bio-diversity. We have protected areas. It has a return for us since it can turn into eco-tourism magnets. We have an extensive protected area network and are investing in eco-tourism. We understand that when the environment is healthy, it can better withstand impacts such as climate change. We have been investing a lot on sewer management, the sea and rivers meet the required standards. We are working hard to recycle as much as possible. We have zero-waste targets. Waste is also collected and exported to India and China where they are recycled as we can’t recycle in Seychelles as our volume is too small. We are also working on recycling 50 percent of our organic waste to turn it into bio-gas to produce energy.

Q: There was talk in the recent past about Sri Lankan government plans to close its High Commission in Seychelles, established during the past government. How would this have impacted on relations between the two countries?

A: I can certainly speak on behalf of our side. We have an embassy in Colombo established about three years ago. We saw the potential of working together with Sri Lanka. In the past, we always turned to Sri Lanka. When we had a shortage of teachers, we asked Sri Lanka to help us out. Today, there are plenty of Sri Lankans working in Seychelles in various sectors such as education, engineering, tourism etc.

We have a new vision of a ‘Blue Economy’ to tap into sustainability in marine sectors. We believe there is a lot we can learn from Sri Lanka in the marine sector. This is why the government established an embassy here. We don’t have a lot of embassies in the region. We have one in India, one in China and one in Colombo. So the decision to open one here speaks volumes.

We want to align ourselves with Sri Lanka in some of the sectors. We believe in building cooperation between our two countries. This is why we opened an embassy and will keep it open as long as we can. In the past, developing countries always looked towards developed countries. But some of the solutions were not there. We can cooperate in the South between each other, because certain countries have made progress in one direction, while others in another direction depending on policies and interests. So it makes more sense for South-South cooperation. For us, Sri Lanka presents us with certain opportunities which we would like to pursue.

Q: How is Seychelles cooperating with Sri Lanka in Sri Lankan government investigations into fraud and corruption, especially with regard to offshore bank accounts in Seychelles?

A: Seychelles is already cooperating with the Sri Lankan government through the Finance Investigation Unit in Seychelles with regard to investigation into any fraud and corruption. Seychelles has signed the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidelines for offshore banking.

We keep offshore dealings transparent. All information on transactions can be inspected and checked by authorised bodies.

For each account that is opened in Seychelles, owners have to be declared, unlike earlier. Every year, all jurisdictions are reviewed. If you look up the internet, you will see that Seychelles is one of the countries that is clean. If in doubt, authorised bodies can check transactions after a formal request.

The Seychelles government has been working with the Panama jurisdiction and there is definitely interest in the offshore banking system. We’ve been following all the international rules, making sure that our systems are clean. We have made sure that we are not allowing the wrong people into our country. So if there is any investigation, Seychelles will cooperate as long as it is reciprocal on both sides.

Source:19 May 2016 Daily News (Sri Lanka)

Let us protect our biodiversity

On Sunday May 22, the international community marks an important day but unfortunately not many people are aware of its deep significance. The United Nations has proclaimed May 22 as the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) to increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues.  In December 2000, the UN General Assembly adopted May 22 as IDB, to mark the adoption of the text of the Convention held on May 22, 1992 by the Nairobi Final Act of the Conference.

This year’s theme is, ‘Mainstreaming Biodiversity; Sustaining People and their Livelihoods.’ For those who do not know or do not care, Biological diversity or biodiversity is the term given to the variety of life on Earth. It is the variety within and among all species of plants, animals and micro-organisms and the ecosystems within which they live and interact.  Biodiversity comprises the millions of different species that live on our planet and the genetic differences within the species. It also refers to the multitude of different ecosystems in which species form unique communities, interacting with one another and the air, water and soil.

Biodiversity is explored at three levels: genetic diversity, species diversity and ecosystem diversity.   According to science journals, Human alteration of the global environment has triggered the sixth major extinction event in the history of life and caused widespread changes in the global distribution of organisms. These changes in biodiversity alter ecosystem processes and change the resilience of ecosystems to environmental change. This has profound consequences for services that humans derive from ecosystems. The large ecological and societal consequences of changing biodiversity should be minimized to preserve options for future solutions to global environmental problems.

Humans have extensively altered the global environment, changing global biogeochemical cycles, transforming land and enhancing the mobility of biota. Fossil-fuel combustion and deforestation have increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) by 30% in the past three centuries — with more than half of this increase occurring in the past 50 years.  We have more than doubled the concentration of methane and increased concentrations of other gases that contribute to climate warming. In the next century these greenhouse gases are likely to cause the most rapid climate change that the Earth has experienced since the end of the last glaciation 18,000 years ago and perhaps a much longer time.  Industrial fixation of nitrogen for fertilizer and other human activities has more than doubled the rates of terrestrial fixation of gaseous nitrogen into biologically available forms. Run off of nutrients from agricultural and urban systems has increased several-fold in the developed river basins of the Earth, causing major ecological changes in estuaries and coastal zones.

The UN in a message to mark this event says Biodiversity is the foundation for life and for the essential services provided by ecosystems. It therefore underpins peoples’ livelihoods and sustainable development in all areas of activity, including economic sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries and tourism, among others. By halting biodiversity loss, we are investing in people, their lives and their well-being.

The thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 13) to be held in Cancun, Mexico from December 4 to 17 this year will focus on the mainstreaming of biodiversity within and across sectors. This is closely linked to this year’s IDB theme.

According to the latest figures, Plant diversity and endemism in Sri Lanka are quite high.  Of 3,210 flowering plants belonging to 1,052 genera, 916 species and 18 genera are endemic.[3] All but one of Sri Lanka’s more than 55 dipterocarp (Sinhalese “Hora”) are found nowhere else in the world. Sri Lanka’s amphibian diversity is only becoming known now. Sri Lanka may be home to as many as 140 species of amphibians. More than 50 known freshwater crabs are confined to Sri Lanka.

Though most Sri Lankans are not aware of this, the neo-colonial economic power blocks are quite aware. Experts and companies from those countries have been making subtle attempts to exploit Sri Lanka’s rare biodiversity. The national government needs to closely monitor this area and ensure that the full benefits of Sri Lanka’s biodiversity are obtained by our people for the common good of the country – (Source 19 May 2016- Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka): http://www.dailymirror.lk/109718/Let-us-protect-our-biodiversity#sthash.sfnjiZ6n.dpuf)