Environmental research

The main goal of this project is to make the isolated conservation centre settlement on Aride Island Nature Reserve self-supporting for vital electrical needs through a state-of-the-art solar system instead of relying on expensive and power generation by a diesel generator.This will alternatively reduce risks of negative impacts which can be in the form of oil spillage during unloading, which can be a major factor for Aride Island considering its fringing reef and choppy sea particularly during the south east monsoon. Risks of oil spills during transportation of diesel to the island can impact on a host of marine organisms and natural resources such as seabirds, marine mammals, coral reefs, etc... which will also indirectly affect certain fish communities and fishermen livelihoods. Other threats including noise and air pollution (greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide release) as a result of the generator running can cause disturbances to wildlife, especially birds and thus result in irreversible action such as migration, reduced nesting species richness and reduced bird densities. Other environment pollution can be soil pollution particularly with oil spillage or even improper disposal of used oil from the generator set, which is known to be toxic to soil micro-organisms (e.g. by inhibiting microbial biomass and rates of decomposition) and plants and also acts as source of groundwater contamination.The aspiration of this project is to reduce the use of the generator by using solar panels and storage batteries .ICS recognizes the need for good communication, education and creating awareness about conservation issues and would like to take this opportunity to use this project as a learning platform to sensitize school children from Praslin eco-schools, both government and private, about the threat climate change poses to human-wellbeing, ecosystem services and functioning.

Seychelles