Indira Gamatis

Seychelles, is home to many endemic flora and fauna both on land and in the ocean, and considered as a biodiversity hotspot. However, many of our species are listed on the IUCN Red list, with some facing the risk of extinction. With the increasing loss of species globally, safeguarding wildlife is now more important than ever. Over the years, Seychelles, has progressed towards the implementation of CITES, establishing our national legislation and administrative framework and building national capacity.  

This year’s World Wildlife Day theme, comes at an opportune moment for us to continuously look at innovative mechanism to support the conservation of wildlife, which in turn will benefit nature and people.  

Seychelles is continuously exploring innovative financing solutions that supports conservation. The debt for nature swap, the first undertaken for marine conservation and climate action, resulted in the establishment of a trust fund, the Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust, which is providing grants also for marine conservation and for marine protected areas. The debt for nature swap, enabled Seychelles to develop its marine spatial plan, with 32.6 percent of our EEZ now declared as protected areas. In, 2018, Seychelles launched the first sovereign blue bond. This raised an additional 15 million US Dollar for sustainable marine investments in the blue economy. Seychelles also developed its biodiversity finance plan, aimed at mobilizing resources for biodiversity conservation, which is currently being revised to support Seychelles in implementing its national biodiversity targets.  

However, there are still many constraints for us to access and mobilize funding. To address the financing gap towards biodiversity, mobilizing funding from all sources is key. The international community also has a role to play towards resource mobilization and to foster collaboration, provide opportunities and the enabling environment that will support development of innovative financing mechanism towards conservation.   

Thank you.