Seychelles is among the member states that are yet to officially submit their revised National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) that was given as a task at the  United Nations Biodiversity Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) in December 2022.

At the COP16 taking place in Cali, Colombia, a number of pertinent subjects are being discussed, including the submission of the member states' revised NBSAP. Only around 18 percent of the member states have officially submitted theirs.

Speaking to SNA in Colombia, the CBD Focal point for Seychelles, Indira Gamatis, said one of the issues was a delay in receiving funding that was earmarked for the development of the country's action plan.

"Seychelles is being supported under the GEF (Global Environment Fund) project to develop the national targets and the NBSAP. There were delays there," she said.

Gamatis stated that Seychelles had previously two other NBSAPs in place - the last one being from 2016 until 2020 and it was in line with the Aichi biodiversity targets which had been adopted in Japan in 2010.

"Following a review during the last COP in 2022, it was recommended that we come up with another NBSAP. This NBSAP process itself involves a lot of stakeholder consultation with the whole society approach, including the government, private sector, individuals and communities to ensure that everyone is represented in this action plan," she explained.

Gamatis added that the NBSAP will not only focus on ecosystem and species conservation, it will also detail how to use resources in a more sustainable manner. It will also look at other factors that affect biodiversity as a whole, resource mobilisation and capacity building.

"The NBSAP will have countries actually deliver on their commitments with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and support the implementation of the new global framework for biodiversity," said Gamatis. 

She confirmed that Seychelles' NBSAP will be ready by next year, and clarified that even though the action plan is not complete, that does not mean that nothing is being done for biodiversity conservation.

"For example, Seychelles had already completed the 30 by 30 target by 2020. This is a worldwide initiative for governments to designate 30 percent of Earth's land and ocean area as protected areas by 2030. In fact, in our case, this number is around 32.6 percent of our ocean and around 48 percent of our land mass. There are also several other projects being done that already align with the global framework. Now we need to focus on implementation and ensuring that these protected areas are being effectively managed and protected."

"In addition, with the new NBSAP, we are supposed to conduct a comprehensive biodiversity assessment and in fact, this is being done currently. This is being done by a consultant, who is looking at the status of biodiversity in Seychelles, the gaps, issues as well as impacts on biodiversity," she said.

Gamatis said the next crucial step will be implementation and mentioned the Biodiversity Finance Plan being developed under the GOS-GEF-UNDP "Prioritising Biodiversity Conservation and Nature-based Solutions as Pillars of Seychelles' Blue Economy."

This Blue Economy project is administered by the United Nations Development Programme and the Seychelles' Ministry responsible for the environment is is implementing it.

The project manager, Victoria Alis, said, "Under this project, there are funds allocated to support the Biodiversity Finance Unit, or BFU, to develop the biodiversity finance plan -BFP- as well as supporting the Ministry of Environment in implementing a biodiversity needs assessment. That is doing the costing of the NBSAP. Some funds have already been secured under this project to essentially support the NBSAP."

Alis is also in Colombia to learn more about the GBF and CBD reporting requirements and also innovative ways to report and monitor the BFP and NBSAP.

This story was produced as part of the 2024 CBD COP16 Fellowship organised by Internews' Earth Journalism Network.