Adapting water usage to address climate change impacts

Adapting water usage to address climate change impacts

23-February-2015
“When the rain falls it is no longer sprinkles of water droplets, but a loud and heavy downpour. You will not see me or my friends outside playing football in the rain anymore,” says Stephan Pierre, a 21-year-old resident of Anse Royale district.

Stephan’s home area at Anse Royale is close to the coast and now commonly floods as a result of heavy rainfall.

“Climate change added to human bad practices is totally changing our way of life,” he says. “It is a reality that we are going to have to live with.”

Anse Royale has been identified as a target site for a new Adaptation Fund (AF) project (an international fund). The ‘Ecosystem-based Adaptation to Climate Change’ project, the first AF project in Seychelles, is the largest project currently implemented by the GOS-UNDP-GEF Programme Coordination Unit (PCU).

The project addresses issues of water scarcity and contrasting over-abundance at different locations at different seasons. It aims to increase water storage and promote more regular flows from watershed areas so that more water is available in the rivers during droughts and downstream flood risks resulting from heavy rainfall are abated. Droughts and floods are both predicted to increase as a result of climate change, unless water issues are tackled.

Stephan’s uncle has a small farm at Anse Royale. During rainy periods he affirms that there are no water shortages, but during the dry season the water he uses is too salty. The EBA project will be working with the farmers of Anse Royale to try to solve the issue of salt water intrusion affecting the irrigation water used by the farms.

Since Anse Royale’s vegetable farms produce about 60% of the leafy vegetables grown in the country, the importance of the site as a focus area for the project is emphasised. The EBA project manager, Selby Remy, considers that this project is a unique opportunity for us to address problems related to water, from the source to the sink. It is based on principles of ecosystem management and if implemented successfully will have significant benefits for many households.

Mr Remy believes that climate change is happening here and now - and nobody can argue against this fact any more.

“We have to adapt, we have to prepare, and we need people to work with us in order to improve their livelihoods and their prospects for the futre,” he says.
The availability of clean water is one of the basic human requirements: but here in Seychelles there are water shortages and there are water use conflicts.

“We need to plan properly: we need local knowledge and we expect people to contribute knowledge and ideas to help achieve the outcome of the project. It is only through the process of empowering people to take responsibility over their natural resources that we will achieve long-term sustainability for Anse Royale,” he says.

In partnership with the department of natural resources and Seychelles Agricultural Agency, the project is starting discussions with the farmers about possible solutions to their salt water problem.

To maintain a direct link with the population, support their engagement and empower people to have a say in what happens to their resources, the project has recently recruited a dedicated community engagement specialist, Betty Mondon, who is working actively at grassroots level to make sure local people get involved. Another of her tasks is to assess whether people in the selected sites have access to clean water, and if not what can be done about it – the project will develop water storage structures in upstream areas or assist people to collect rain water in downstream areas.

As part of the bigger picture, the project will look at water management policy. Are the institutions involved able to discharge their responsibilities? Do they have the capacity to do so – do the institutions, or the communities, need training or other support? Most importantly are the responsible institutions or indeed the communities properly mandated to discharge their responsibilities and manage their resources?

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=244603

Plis ki 9 milyon roupi pour en proze distribisyon ek stokaz delo Anse Aux Pins

16-April-2015
Korporasyon Litilite Piblik (PUC) pe entreprann en proze distribisyon ek stokaz delo trete dan leo Karyol ek Bodanmyen dan distrik Anse Aux Pins ki pe kout plis ki 9 milyon roupi.

Sa proze pe ganny fer an 2 faz e premye faz in fini konmanse e pros pour konplete. Sa i enkli met nouvo tiyo, konstrir en nouvo rezervwar dan leo Karyol e agrandi stasyon laponp Pointe Larue.

Minis responsab pour Lanvironnman, Sanzman Klima ek Lenerzi Didier Dogley ti donn sa bann lenformasyon dan sesyon demann kestyon dan Lasanble Nasyonal Mardi letan i ti pe reponn en kestyon par manm elekte pour sa distrik, Meggy Marie.

Msye Marie ti’n demann Minis Dogley ki plan son minister pour rezourd problenm stokaz ek distribisyon delo trete dan leo Karyol ek Bodanmyen.

Minis Dogley ti eksplike ki pandan ki sa rezervwar pe konstrir, PUC in met anplas en rezervwar fibre glass tanporer ki pe deza fourni delo trete bann zabitan Karyol ek Bodanmyen. I ti dir ki premye faz sa proze pe kout PUC 3.4 milyon roupi.

Dezyenm faz sa proze ki enkli met tiyo sorti Anse Aux Pins ki pou pas par Bodanmyen pour ranforsi delo dan nouvo rezervwar Karyol ki pe ganny konstrir i ekspekte kout 5.9 milyon roupi me i pou ganny enplimante enpe plitar.

Me Minis Dogley pe demann bann dimoun dan sa 2 sou-distrik ki pa ankor ganny konekte avek delo trete pour kontakte PUC pour fer leneseser pour zot ganny en koneksyon delo.

Minis Dogley ti osi fer rapel lasanble ek zabitan sa de landrwa an kestyon ki premye faz sa proze ti pour asire ki tou dimoun sa rezyon i ganny konnekte avek delo trete tandis ki dezyenm faz li i pour asir en bon stokaz delo sirtou pandan letan lasesres.

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=245110

Seychelles’ challenges discussed at world water forum

27-April-2015


The water situation in Seychelles, the main challenges the country faces such as climate change risks, the adaptation measures being used against water shortage are some of the issues environment principal secretary Alain De Comarmond raised during the 7th World Water Forum in South Korea.

Mr De Comarmond was accompanied by Public Utilities Corporation principal engineer Franky Duprès.

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=245226