Seychelles’ Protected Areas Policy.

This Protected Areas Policy is a nationwide sectoral policy aiming at creating a Protected Areas System on land and in the sea that (i) protects and conserves high quality, comprehensive and ecologically representative examples of the Seychelles’ natural diversity and cultural heritage and (ii) provides ample opportunities for the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the sustainable use of these resources, as for stated by the Vision. The specific objectives of the PA Policy are (i) create conditions to effectively conserve 50% of national terrestrial areas and effectively conserve and manage 20% of marine area within the EEZ; (ii) establish effective mechanisms for private sector, NGOs and community involvement and engagement in the planning and management of protected areas; (iii) explore, develop and implement sustainable financing mechanisms for PA management; (iv) develop a capacity development program to strengthen the management of PAs; (v) conserve and protect the biodiversity within and outside of the Protected Area Network; (vi) provide for the restoration of degraded habitats and ecosystems of historical important biodiversity areas and put into place measures to prevent further degradation; (vii) maintain and enhance terrestrial and marine ecosystems; (viii) develop schemes for the sustainable use and sharing of the benefits arising from these activities; (ix) mitigate the impacts of climate change by maintaining the integrity and functions of ecosystems; (x) establish educational and awareness programs and enhance public support for ecosystem protection and sustainable use; and (xi) develop outreach programs to change people’s behavior with respect to protection of the environment.
The creation and use of new PA categories is also intended to make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable and to support economic development, mostly through recreation, sustainable agriculture and tourism that can contribute to local and national economies and in particular to local communities.
In order to enhance more inclusive and efficient agricultural systems, the Policy, whereas a sustainable use of the territory through the PA helps the sustainable development of agriculture, aims to promote stakeholder and public participation in the PA system.
To increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, the suggested interventions aim to (i) minimize and mitigate the impacts of climate change by maintaining the integrity and functions of ecosystems; and (ii) reduce the vulnerability of natural and human systems against actual or expected climate change effects.
As for the Governance, the document provides the institutional framework for the designation of powers and responsibilities to PA management bodies as follows (i) the Ministry of Environment and Energy is the high-policy level body with the responsibility for the overall PA system; (ii) all authorities and agencies which manage PAs will be regulated by specific legislation governing respective PAs; (iii) the Environment Department, which answers directly to the Minister responsible for Environment, will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the legislation specific to protected areas at the national level; and (iv) the Seychelles National Parks Authority and all other bodies managing PAs will be responsible to manage and implement respective regulations of respective PAs at site level.