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Oceans and fisheries
News announcement6 December 2019Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

Latest Euronews Ocean episode shows the climate-related challenges that Small Island Developing States are facing

In this episode, Euronews is visiting Seychelles to see some of the climate-related challenges that Small Island Developing States are facing — from coral die-off to coastal erosion, flooding, farming damage and freshwater loss due to salt water intrusion. Euronews talks to Seychelles climate adaptation officer Jean-Claude Labrosse, the EU Ambassador Vincent Degert, NGO activists and common citizens about the main threats associated with climate change and actions to mitigate their consequences, including the EU-financed climate change adaptation programme.

Storm surges, intense rains and coastal erosion pose existential risks to Small Island Developing States - where a third of the population lives near sea level. The EU has close relations with the Seychelles and is helping the country to reinforce its coastline. "Here, coastal erosion means disappearance of the islands - that's the reality,” says Vincent Degert, EU Ambassador to the Republic of Mauritius and the Republic of Seychelles. “There are 90,000 people living here in the Seychelles. Their homes, their restaurants, their economic activity - everything is put at risk by climate change. So there is a genuine need to take action together."

The European Union allocated 3 million euros under the Global Climate Change Adaptation programme to help deal with the flood problems and prevent the salinification of La Digue’s agricultural fields.

"There will be projects to be implemented under the programme which the EU has committed itself to fund,” says Jean-Claude Labrosse, Principal Climate Adaptation officer, at the Seychelles Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change. “One will be of course the shoreline management plan; the other one is to increase our capacity to deal with flooding within the plateau and other areas; the other one is for the beach protection; and lastly, there will also be projects to mitigate saltwater intrusion further inland. Today the world is like a global village - we cannot act in isolation. So if we are burning more fuel, if we are disposing more waste, it affects the seas, it affects the reefs, it affects the livelihood of people around the world."

Euronews Ocean: NGOs work to rebuild vital coral reefs, but islands threatened by climate change need much more help

 

Details

Publication date
6 December 2019
Author
Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries