Ecosystem Based Adaptation in Seychelles
This project seeks to reduce the vulnerability of the Seychelles to climate change, focusing on two key issues—water scarcity and flooding. Climate change projections in the Seychelles show that rainfall, while increasing in overall terms, will become even more irregular. Much of the precipitation is falling in sharp bursts, creating heavy flooding in the wet season, while imposing extended period of drought during the dry season. As the country does not have a large water storage capacity, and the topography of the islands constrains such infrastructure, water supplies are heavily dependent on rainfall. Furthermore, the coastal zone is vulnerable to flooding as a consequence of rising sea surface levels, and increased storm surges from cyclonic activity in the Western Indian Ocean. The project will reduce these vulnerabilities by spearheading ecosystem-based adaptation as climate change risk management—restoring ecosystem functionality, and enhancing ecosystem resilience and sustaining watershed and coastal processes in order to secure critical water provisioning and flood attenuation ecosystem services from watersheds and coastal areas.