CLIMATE CHANGE IN SMALL BRANCHES: SEYCHELLES
across the Atlantic, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Pacific and Indian Oceans form a distinctive group, with each one of them having its own unique characteristics but nevertheless sharing many common features. They are recognized by the virtue of their small size, small population, and lack of substantial natural resources, remoteness, high cost of transportation and communication inaccessibility to economies of scale and disproportionately higher costs of conducting business. The IPCC and the international community generally agree that SIDS have legitimate concerns over their future.
The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report concludes with a very high level of confidence that SIDS will be affected by global sea level rise, which would increase coastal erosion and magnify the impact of storm
surges and affect coastal agriculture. The impact on coral reefs and fisheries, through warming of the ocean and ocean acidification are threats that would undermine food security and livelihood in SIDS. Already, those climate change risks are being experienced by Seychelles, for example, the occurrence of abnormally high water temperatures in 1998 that caused coral bleaching. The impact on tourism and fishing at the time was hugely devastating for such a small country. Historical climatic
observations in Seychelles indicate significant changes in climatic variations in the Indian Ocean. Local fishermen and farmers comment on the fact that traditional knowledge that they used to rely on is no longer trustworthy. The rainy season traditionally begins from November/December but
lately it’s beginning in October. Gradually, the dry season which normally begins in April until October, has been extending for months beyond that. There has been an increase in natural disasters such as extreme rainfall during rainy season as a result of increased tropical depressions in the cyclonic regions of the Indian Ocean. This has had an adverse effect on Seychelles although it lies outside this region.
Although it is classified as an upper middle-income country, the Seychelles has a number of inherent vulnerabilities related to its insularity; lack of substantial natural resources; vulnerability to natural disasters; excessive dependence upon imports and limited economic base; high costs of transportation and communication; and inaccessibility to economies of scale and technology. As a result key weaknesses in the human,
scientific, financial, technical, technological and institutional capacity are observed. It needs more professionals in climate change, oceanography, meteorology and other related fields.
Other vulnerabilities of Seychelles with respect to climate change include the following: • Critical infrastructure (roads, ports, government buildings, electricity, water and sewerage management systems)
• Tourism (in proximity to the coast or in areas vulnerable to flooding and landslides)
• Food security (currently reliant on food imports and the need for support for local sustainable and climate-smart agriculture and fisheries efforts)
• Coastal and Marine Resources (considering
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