VICTORIA, Seychelles — A three-day regional workshop on the conservation of mangrove and seagrass ecosystems, which brings together experts and government representatives from across the Western Indian Ocean region, is currently underway in Seychelles. Jointly organised by the government of Seychelles, the Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT), and The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Seychelles Regional Seagrass Workshop is aimed at fostering collaboration and advancing efforts to protect these vital “blue carbon” ecosystems.
The opening day of the workshop took place yesterday morning at the Eden Bleu Hotel, marking the official start of discussions centred on the conservation of seagrasses. Mangroves and seagrass meadows are increasingly recognised as some of the most efficient natural carbon sinks on the planet, storing several times more carbon per hectare than tropical rainforests, while also providing nursery habitat for commercially important fish species and stabilising coastlines against erosion and storm surge.
Seychelles has emerged as a regional leader in blue-carbon policy, having completed the world’s first sovereign blue bond in 2018 and a pioneering debt-for-nature swap with The Nature Conservancy in 2015. The workshop is expected to produce a regional framework for monitoring seagrass health, with technical working groups established to develop common indicators and a shared data platform. Delegates from Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion, and the Seychelles are participating, alongside scientists from international research institutions. The workshop’s findings will be presented at the upcoming United Nations Ocean Conference.
