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National
Beach Monitoring Programme
At
a workshop at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Hotel, Mahe, Seychelles,
on 21st July 2003 the National Beach Monitoring Programme was
launched by the Environment
Minister, Mr. Ronny Jumeau. Through this programme, the Coastal
Zone Unit of the Ministry of the Environment has enlisted the
support of several hotels and other government agencies to assist
them in monitoring beach changes on a regular basis.
During
the opening ceremony, the beach monitoring equipment was handed
over to Mr. Jumeau by Mr. Bernard Shamlaye, Secretary-General
to the UNESCO National Commission in Seychelles. This equipment
had been purchased as part of the Small Islands Voice project.
Mr. Bernard Shamlaye (standing right) presenting beach monitoring
equipment to Mr. Ronnie Jumeau, Minister of the Environment (standing
left), 21.07.03
The
beach monitoring programme utilizes a simple methodology developed
within the framework of a Caribbean island initiative - 'Managing
beach resources and planning for coastline change' (COSALC)
- sponsored by the Coasts and Small Islands Unit (CSI) of the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO). Within the framework of this programme, government agencies,
non-governmental organizations, school students, volunteers and
interested individuals in 13 island territories/states in the
eastern Caribbean have been measuring their beach changes since
1985. They have established an extensive database, which is allowing
the islands to manage their beaches and mitigate against beach
erosion in an effective manner.
Representatives
from Seychelles Ministry of the Environment participated in inter-regional
workshops, sponsored by UNESCO-CSI and held in Samoa
in 2000 and Dominica
in 2001, during which beach monitoring methods were among
the topics discussed. Following this interaction, a request was
made by the Ministry of the Environment to obtain equipment for
beach monitoring within the broad framework of UNESCO's Small
Islands Voice project - an initiative which seeks, among other
things, to promote inter-regional exchange between small islands.
Funding was received and the equipment was purchased early in
2003.
A
pilot group of hotels will undertake the monitoring in the first
instance:
- Mahe:
Coral Strand, Le Meridien Barbarons, Northolme, Plantation Club,
- Praslin:
Marechiaro, Praslin Beach, Lemuria
Hotel.
The
participating hotels will collect data for their respective beaches
and send the information to a national beach profile database.
The analysed information will be available for the hotels to effectively
manage the beaches in front of their properties. Government
agencies will also take part in the monitoring, including
the Ministry of Environment's Coastal Zone Unit and the Pollution
Control and Environmental
Assessment
Division, Seychelles Centre for Marine Research and Technology,
Marine Parks Authority, Solid Waste and Cleaning Agency.
Mr.
Jumeau urged other hotels to participate in the programme, for
the problem of beach erosion could not be isolated - 'what is
the use of one hotel managing the beach in front of it efficiently
and scientifically, if the next one just down the coast is hacking
away all the patatran and other coastal vegetation on the
pretext of giving its guests a better view, only to end up giving
everyone along the coast an environmental migraine.'
The
morning session
of the workshop saw several presentations on the issue of
beaches, beach erosion and the monitoring programme by staff from
the Coastal Zone Management Unit as well as from visiting consultant
Dr. Gillian Cambers from the University of Puerto Rico. The afternoon
session comprised a field training session on Beau Vallon Beach
for all participants on the monitoring method to be used during
the programme.
Practising
beach monitoring during the Seychelles National Beach Monitoring
Training Workshop, 21st July 2003
The
workshop received extensive media coverage and articles in the
local press included: 'Hotels in
the thick of action' and 'Workshop
provides practical know-how'
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