Final Country Report LDN Target Setting Programme - Republic of Seychelles
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Final Country Report LDN Target Setting Programme - Republic of Seychelles September 2018 This document has been prepared with the support of the Land Degradation Neutrality Target Setting Programme (LDN TSP), a partnership initiative implemented by the Secretariat and the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD, with support of the following partners: France, Germany, Luxembourg, Republic of Korea, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, European Space Agency, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Global Environment Facility, ISRIC – World Soil Information, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Soil Leadership Academy, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme, World Resources Institute. The views and content expressed in this document are solely those of the authors of this document and do not necessarily represent the views of the LDN TSP or any of its partners. 2 Table of Contents List of Figures ....................................................................................................................................................... 4 List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................................ 4 Summary .............................................................................................................................................................. 5 1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 7 2.0 Land Degradation in Seychelles ............................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Legal and Institutional Environment .................................................................................................... 9 2.2 The LDN National Working Group (Technical Advisory Committee) ................................................. 11 2.3 Leveraging Land Degradation Neutrality and SDGs ........................................................................... 12 3.0 Land Degradation Neutrality Indicators ................................................................................................. 14 3.1 LDN Baseline Indicators and Default Data ......................................................................................... 14 3.2 Land Cover ......................................................................................................................................... 16 3.3 Land Productivity and Soil Carbon Content ....................................................................................... 16 3.4 National Land Cover Data .................................................................................................................. 18 4.0 Assessing Land Degradation .................................................................................................................. 20 4.1 Land Degradation Change Analysis .................................................................................................... 21 4.2 Assessing Land Degradation Trends and Drivers ............................................................................... 23 4.3 Land Degradation Hotspots Area ....................................................................................................... 25 5.0 LDN Baseline Validation ......................................................................................................................... 27 6.0 Achieving Land Degradation Neutrality Targets .................................................................................... 29 6.1 LDN Measures and Transformative Projects ..................................................................................... 29 6.2 LDN Target Setting Consultative Meetings ........................................................................................ 30 6.3 LDN Leverage Gained ......................................................................................................................... 32 6.4 LDN Target Setting and Measure Validation ...................................................................................... 33 6.5 Overall LDN Targets 2030 and Measures ........................................................................................... 35 7.0 Overall achievements and lessons learned ........................................................................................... 36 Annexes .............................................................................................................................................................. 38 Annex 1: List of Technical Advisory Committee (LDN Working Group) Members ........................................ 38 Annex 2: Working Group Meetings and Workshops ..................................................................................... 40 Annex 3- LDN Leverage Plan .......................................................................................................................... 41 Annex 4: LDN Target and Measures .............................................................................................................. 45 Annex 5: List of LDN Reports ......................................................................................................................... 48 Annex 6: Maps of LDN Hotspots Islands of Seychelles .................................................................................. 49 3 List of Figures Figure 1: Location of Granitic Islands Seychelles. ................................................................................................ 7 Figure 2: Mahe Digitised Artificial Area, Google Earth 2015. ............................................................................ 14 Figure 3: LDN Indicators-Sub indicators ............................................................................................................. 15 Figure 4: LDN Net Land Productivity Map 2000 (above)-2015 .......................................................................... 17 Figure 5: Map Land Cover –Mahe Island, 2000 ................................................................................................. 19 Figure 6-Map Land Cover –Mahe Island 2015 ................................................................................................... 20 Figure 7; Map Land Cover Change Detection, Mahe Island 2000-2015 ............................................................ 23 Figure 8: SSLDP Strategy Map overlaid with GE Artificial Area 2015. ................................................................ 25 Figure 9: SSLUP Spatial Land Use strategy Map-Mahe ...................................................................................... 32 List of Tables Table 1: LDN Baseline Indicators (LDN TSP default data) .................................................................................. 28 Table 2-LDN 2030 Target-Mahe Island .............................................................................................................. 45 Table 3: LDN 2030 Target- Praslin Island ........................................................................................................... 46 Table 4-LDN 2030 Targets- La Digue island ........................................................................................................ 47 4 Summary The government of the Republic of Seychelles has over the past two decades become very aware of the threats of land degradation. Land degradation in Seychelles mainly occurs due to forest fires, clearing of forest for development purposes (agriculture, including plantations; housing; tourist facilities; infrastructure), effects of invasive alien species, unsustainable agriculture, construction practices and landslides / rock falls. In 1997 it ratified the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and ever since the country has been an active party to it. Land degradation in Seychelles has been addressed since then through a number of government funded schemes as well as related UNDP/GEF funded projects such as: - Coastal erosion adaptation and rehabilitation programs - Capacity building for sustainable land management (SLM); - Expansion and strengthening of the protected area subsystem of the outer islands of Seychelles and its integration into the broader land and seascape; - Mainstreaming biodiversity management into production sector activities (the development and implementation of land, water and coastal use plans). In 2012 the National Action Plan (NAP) for SLM was approved at cabinet level and planned for implementation under the Seychelles Sustainable Development Strategy 2012-2020. The NAP sets out long term strategies aimed at achieving land management within the country mainly through the precautionary approach such as policy review, capacity building, awareness raising and education on SLM. The NAP has six specific goals: 1. Land use planning and management is supportive of sustainable land management; 2. Forested land and watersheds are sustainably managed; 3. Agricultural land and water is sustainably managed and contributing to food security in the Seychelles; 4. Physical infrastructure developments and coastal zone developments are supportive of sustainable land management; 5. Integrated water management and sustainable land management are mutually supportive; 6. Climate change adaptation