29 October 2022
Inauguration of the Curieuse Marine Education Area
A marine educational area for a sustainable future
In the framework of the Pareo project, the educational marine area of Curieuse Island in the Seychelles was inaugurated on 28 October 2022 with the children of the Baie Ste-Anne school in Pralin. This coral reef protection awareness project is coordinated by the French Research Institute for Development (IRD), in collaboration with the Seychelles Parks and Gardens Authority (SGPA). It is supported by Monaco Explorations. On the occasion of the inauguration, Francis Marsac (IRD) officially represented the Explorations de Monaco, on the eve of the arrival of H.H. Agulhas II and the Indian Ocean expedition to the Seychelles. Pascale Chabanet (IRD), coordinator of the PAREO project in the south-west Indian Ocean and Anto Suzette, Manager of the Curieuse Island National Marine Park, were present with the children of Baie Ste-Anne school and several representatives of the Seychelles Ministry of Education and Environment: Mrs Monique Lesperance, Director of Baie Ste-Anne primary school in Pralin, Mrs Lynndinna Essack and Mrs Catherine Onezia (Ministry of Education), Mr Terry Mousse and Clive Clarisse (Ministry of Education). Terry Mousse and Clive Clarisse (Ministry of the Environment).
A first in Seychelles
The concept of a Marine Education Area was born in 2012 in the Marquesas. It consists of students and their teachers managing a small coastal marine area in a participatory manner. This educational and eco-citizen approach aims to raise awareness among young people about the protection of the marine environment, but also to discover its actors. This is the first time that a marine educational area has been implemented in the Seychelles. The objective of this project, which will be launched in 2021, is to develop conservation actions based on solutions envisaged and implemented by the children themselves in order to forge links between science and society. Over the last few months, the students’ activities have been supervised by Lola Massé (Pareo-IRD Project Manager) and Maria Brioche in the framework of the Pareo clubs.
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The PAREO project, which stands for “Indian Ocean Reef Heritage in our hands”, is an innovative environmental education project that combines the transmission of scientific knowledge, the discovery of the environment through the use of new technologies and concrete conservation actions. It encourages young people to become actors in the protection and good management of their daily environment. It takes place in four islands in the Indian Ocean, Reunion, Mauritius, Curieuse Island in the Seychelles and Moheli Island in the Comoros. These islands share an exceptional reef heritage, which is unfortunately being degraded by human pressure.
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In line with the research themes of the Indian Ocean Expedition, in particular coral reefs and plastic pollution, Monaco Explorations is supporting the DIDEM scientific dissemination programme “Science – Decision-makers’ dialogue for integrated management of coastal and marine environments” for the period 2020-2023. This programme is being developed in the Western Indian Ocean basin (Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles and Tanzania). Supported by the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), this programme aims to facilitate and strengthen the dialogue between scientists and decision-makers in the Western Indian Ocean sub-region, in order to develop solutions for the sustainable management of natural environments in developing countries.
