The Danny Faure Foundation (DFF) received a donation of SCR 100,000 ($7,376) from the Chinese Embassy in Seychelles on Friday to get its new "Youth Coastline Watch Group" project underway.

The initiative, due to begin soon, aims to empower a generation of young environmental stewards proficient in scientific methodologies, including the use of technologies and geographic assessments to effectively monitor and map coastal erosion.

Both government and private secondary schools in the country bordering on the coast will select four of their students interested in the domain. It will target Secondary Three (S3) students with their science or geography teacher to watch the coast and collect scientific information.

The project will be held for a little over five years, ending in time for the Sustainable Development Goals of 2030.

A consultant at the DFF, Fatime Kante, revealed that the data collected will be handed over to the Geographical Information System (GIS) department in the Ministry of Housing and Lands and the Environmental Education Unit in the Ministry of Education.

"We are targeting S3 students as they will grow with the project and later on they will be adults who can speak about the issue themselves," she said.

The Chinese Ambassador to Seychelles, Lin Nan, handed the cheque to the head of the DFF, former President Danny Faure, at the Link Building at Ile du Port, on the main island of Mahe.

The ambassador expressed her country's joy at assisting the project that "will help young people understand more about what the world is facing with climate change."

Faure thanked the Chinese Embassy for its belief in the project that is "preparing the next generation to be at the forefront of knowing what is happening to the coastlines."

The Danny Faure Foundation was founded by former President Danny Faure to contribute towards the sustainable development of Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean. It also joins the global community in its efforts to achieve a more equitable, just, sustainable and healthy planet, for the present generation and the future generations to come. Launched in June 2021, it focuses on five pillars - the ocean, the Blue Economy, governance, leadership, and the youth.