Saving Paradise

Category: Cousin Island, Nature Seychelles | Date: Jun 30 2009 | By: savingparadise

Efforts to make Cousin Island the first carbon neutral Reserve in the world received a dose of publicity this past weekend through a CNN World Report submitted by the Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation (SBC).

Nature Seychelles wants to put in place a carbon offset program to protect the environment, maintain Cousin’s reputation as a world class reserve, and reassure visitors that their travel to the Reserve would be carbon neutral.

“Fly less” is one of the most recognized green mantras. Air travel is continually being slammed for producing climate-destroying greenhouses gases.  In some places, tourists are being advised to avoid such travel altogether. This could harm destinations such as Seychelles, which are economically dependent on tourism.

Privately managed conservation sites,  such as Cousin Island Special Reserve, could also be hard hit as they depend on  ecotourism revenues for conservation. Cousin Island attracts about 11,000 international eco-tourists annually.

We will of course keep you updated on this project. We would also love to hear from you about any carbon reduction undertakings you have had.

Meanwhile, you can watch the report at the CNN website here 

Tags: climate change, greenhouse gases, tourism, travel

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Category: Cousin Island | Date: Jun 29 2009 | By: savingparadise

This weekend Cousin Island Special Reserve was featured on CNN World Report. The feature continues Today and on Tuesday at these times:

MONDAY:
08:30A GMT /16:30P Hong Kong / 19:30P Sydney/ 05:30A Buenos Aires /04:30A EDT

TUESDAY:
1) 03:00A GMT / 11:00AHong Kong / 14:00P Sydney / 12:00A Buenos Aires / 23:00P EDT (Monday)
2) 12:30P GMT/ 20:30A Hong Kong / 23:30P Sydney / 09:30A Buenos Aires / 08:30A EDT

You can access archived video of the show on the CNN website at this link.

Tags: carbon neutral, CNN, Cousin Island, World Report

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Category: Endemic birds, Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher | Date: Jun 26 2009 | By: savingparadise

If you are a bird lover, you have probably heard the exciting news that Seychelles Paradise flycatchers have fledged successfully on Denis Island, Seychelles. If you haven’t and are wondering what this is all about, here’s the story.

The Seychelles Paradise-Flycatcher - known as the Vev here - is a Critically Endangered (CE) bird only known to be found breeding on one of the islands - La Digue.

To be listed as CE means that the birds face an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future. So to improve the flycatchers’ chances, 23 birds were translocated last year from La Digue to Denis, where it was hoped they would thrive and improve the status of this species. Upon release on Denis, it was reported that “they flew straight up onto tree branches, preened, then moved off and began to feed”. Some of the birds also appeared to have paired up almost immediately. Results of the pairing up bore fruit in April this year when two nests and egg laying was reported. Happily, we can now say we have “typical normal and healthy flycatcher chicks” on Denis.

Photos: Re-hydration and release of the Vev on Denis

Female just released on Denis

“We are well on the way to saving the Flycatcher”, says the species guardian and  Nature Seychelles CEO, Nirmal Shah. What does this mean in terms of conservation results? “Well in the next two years or so I believe we would have no Critically Endangered (CE) birds left in Seychelles- a huge success considering that once upon a time Seychelles had more CE bird species than any country in Africa except Madagascar. This proves that conservation works. We can make it happen”.

You can read more about the trans- location and preparatory work that ended in this success at our website here. Another story by Birdlife can be found here

The translocation was funded by Darwin Initiative and led by the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) and Nature Seychelles. Partners and collaborators include Denis Island Development  Limited, the La Digue Development Board, the  Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

Edited to add a link to a previous Reuters report on the translocation:

Reuters.com - Saving the Seychelles’ emblem. One of the world’s rarest birds, the paradise flycatcher, was once a common site in gardens on the island of the Seychelles. Around 250 species of the birds exist today and building work on the islands is threatening their habitat. Jasleen Sethi for Reuters television has this report from La Digue, an island in the Seychelles archipelago.

http://www.reuters.com/news/video/videoStory?videoId=75507

Tags: critically endangered, Denis Island, La Digue, Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher

4 responses so far

Category: Cousin Island, Photo of the day, Turtles | Date: Jun 25 2009 | By: savingparadise

Sent in by Jovani Simeon, the Senior Warden on Cousin Island, this photo shows baby Hawksbill turtles coming out during the nesting season on Cousin. Nesting begins end of August and ends beginning March. 99% of all turtles that nest on Cousin are Hawksbill. We also get green turtles, but very few each year. The eggs of Hawksbill take roughly 58 days to incubate.

Tags: Cousin Island, Turtles

4 responses so far

Category: Nature Seychelles | Date: Jun 25 2009 | By: savingparadise

[J-elle. One of the Cousin Island Wardens]

Hello there. Bonjour.

This is Nature Seychelles (Birdlife in Seychelles), an environmental and conservation NGO, involved in various activities aimed at saving and protecting Seychelles’ unique environment. We are lucky to get upfront and personal with nature here.

Our headquarters is at the Centre for Environment and Education near Victoria, Mahe, the capital of Seychelles. Seychelles species and habitats are of world importance and we hope to play a role, through this blog, in linking this world to the outside world.

Our work involves protecting important sites, conserving marine life and habitats, restoring Islands, stopping extinctions, stopping alien invasions, protecting precious plants, balancing conservation and development, investing in people, building partnerships and promoting education and awareness. And most important of all spreading the word.

We manage the Cousin Island Special Reserve, a world recognised sea and island protected area and a haven for land and sea birds. On Cousin, we conduct research and monitoring, habitat management, community involvement and tour guiding.

Cousin Island was purchased by the International Council of Bird Preservation (ICBP now BirdLife International) to save the last remaining population of Seychelles Warbler from extinction in 1968. Last year it celebrated 40 years of its existence and incredible success. You can read more about Cousin’s success story here. The success at Cousin has inspired Nature Seychelles to help restore other Islands through actions like translocation of threatened bird species, rat eradication and planting indigenous species and introducing native species.

We are also involved in coral reef monitoring and research, turtle conservation and other marine work. Next to our centre in Mahe, we manage the Sanctuary at Roche Caiman, an urban wetland near the capital city. The Sanctuary is a site for learning, conservation and recreation. At the Heritage Gardens, also next to our Centre at Mahe, we are studying and restoring native food plants.

Explore the work of Nature Seychelles in greater detail at our website here.

We hope our stories will help you witness conservation in action and inspire you to do your part.

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