The Seychelles Blue Carbon Roadmap was handed over to the Chairman of Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SEYCCAT), who is also the Minister responsible for Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment Mr. Flavien Joubert, by the Vice Chairman of the James Michel Foundation Emeritus Professor Dennis Hardy.

This took place in a short ceremony in Victoria this morning attended by the Principal Secretary for Environment Mr. Denis Matatiken, the Chief Executive Officer of SEYCCAT Mrs. Marie May Jeremie, the James Michel Foundation’s CEO Debbie Monthy, and the James Michel Foundation’s Chief Scientific Advisor Dr. Ameer Ebrahim. Three of the scientists from Deakin University’s Blue Carbon who have worked on the project were also present to give a detailed presentation of the findings and recommendations.

The Seychelles Blue Carbon ecosystem which comprises mainly of seagrass meadows and mangrove forests of over 145 thousand hectares currently stores over 65 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). Every year the country’s carbon ecosystem captures over 200 thousand tons of organic carbon which is equivalent to over 60% of its annual C02 emission. These are the findings of the Blue Carbon study which were culminated into a roadmap on the Blue Carbon opportunities for Seychelles. This project was lead by the James Michel Foundation in collaboration with Deakin University's Blue carbon Lab and partially funded by SEYCCAT.