On-going maintenance of the site has been taken up by the Seychelles National Parks Authority, community groups and the grantee Plant Conservation Action group, PCA.
Project Results
-The PCA purchased 2000 native and endemic plant seedlings (or saplings) from the National Parks Authority (SNPA) and another 2000 was also provided for free in-kind contribution to the project. A final consignment of 1000 plants were purchased from SNPA and is planted during rainy season 2017/2018.
-Under the guidance and supervision of the Sans Souci Foresty section SNPA has committed to maintaining the restored area at Tea Tavern glacis through regular weeding. Since the end of the active restoration phase, the Sans Souci Forestry team conducts long weeding sessions, addressing primarily the reinvasion of some areas by lemon grass and the resprouting of Chrysobalanus icaco (Prune de France), one of the main invasive plant species on the glacis. Further, the restoration team also controls the spread of Alstonia macrophylla (Bwa zonn) by cutting down several adult trees in the vicinity of the restored glacis to prevent the aerial dispersal of seeds in areas cleared of invasive alien plants. Additional maintenance was carried out by members of the Plant Conservation Action group, students from University of Seychelles, members of the Port Glaud community, the local youth club, and the Seventh Day Adventists. The latter will regularly maintain invasive plant weeding at the site with 3-4 weeding events throughout the year. The Seventh Day Adventists have been assigned Guardians of the site
Three field training sessions for Port Glaud community members and for the staff of Constance Ephelia Resort the have been conducted, plant identification and propagation. Many community groups have shown interest in becoming involved in the restoration programme. But actual commitment has so far been limited to one main group (a church group), from which some 14 adults and 10 children have visited the site for activities. Most of them have now become familiar with quite a number of native and alien plants and the restoration methodology used, including herbicide application. One local youth group (around 20 members aged between about 9 and 14) visited the site and learnt to identify several native and also a few alien species. Another youth group has committed to activities and their leaders have already been guided around the site.
The project successfully achieved the launch of a guardianship scheme. The new approach has been accepted by the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) group living in the nearby area of Morne Blanc and Port Glaud village. They will monitor the site and report back to PCA/SNPA as well as continuing with weeding of alien seedlings. Meanwhile, other short-term volunteers from the district and also from business organisations were recruited to carry out weeding and help with nature trail path construction. Short-term volunteers will continue to play an important role. In addition, PCA will also maintain a role as a guardian, to carry out weeding in different parts of the 4.6 hectare site. A plaque was installed at the site (see photo below) in appreciation of the efforts invested by the guardians and community members in maintaining the site of native vegetation.
This ?Tea Tavern? glacis area is well known to many visitors who want to see the rare endemic Seychelles Pitcher plants (Nepenthes pervillei). There is currently a footpath that leads to an area where the pitcher plants grow but was not well maintained. Through our collaboration with SNPA, work to improve the footpath and turn it into a proper nature trail started in the second year of the project and the path has been made safer and logs put in place where the path is susceptible to erosion. A small rock ?platform?/terrace has been added to that visitors get a close-up view of the iconic Seychelles Pitcher plant. An information board about the plant has been placed next to the ?platform?. Long-term trail maintenance was also discussed with the nearby Tea Factory manager along with volunteers. A visitor information leaflet has been developed with suggestions from the Ministry of Tourism. PCA members visited the site with staff of one of the main Seychelles tourism destination management companies. As a result, a short article was published in the company?s digital newsletter, which is read widely as well as on the Seychelles Tourism Board website nature trails and walks page (http://www.seychelles.travel/en/explore/walks-trails).
PCA equally published articles in the regional ?WIOMSA? magazine (http://www.wiomsa.org/wiomsa-magazine-issue-7-is-out/) and by the Seychelles News Agency
(http://www.seychellesnewsagency.com/articles/2884/Making+space+for+Seychelles+endemic+flora+-+Massive+number+of+introduced+and+invasive+plants+being+removed and http://www.seychellesnewsagency.com/articles/6696/Landmark+study+in+Seychelles+shows+hope+for+restoring+native+plant+communities) receiving much attention, locally and regionally.
Others in the latest issue of ?Kapisen? the online PCA annual newsletter (http://www.pcaseychelles.org/kapisen.html) and in the Seychelles Nation (
In addition, during a half-day workshop (19th May 2015), SNPA staff were trained in best-practice techniques on glacis restoration which was recently published in a peer-reviewed journal (Kaiser-Bunbury C.N., Mougal J., Valentin T., Gabriel R., Blüthgen N. 2015. Herbicide application as a habitat restoration tool: impact on native plant communities. Applied Vegetation Science. doi:10.1111/avsc.12183. A scientific publication on the benefits of glacis restoration has been published in the prestigious international journal Nature (Kaiser-Bunbury, C.N., Mougal, J., Whittington, A.E., Valentin, T., Gabriel, R., Olesen, J.M. & Blüthgen, N. (2017) ?Ecosystem restoration strengthens pollination network resilience and function Nature, 542, 223-227) and the results were presented on an Island Ecology Symposium hosted by the University of Seychelles in November 2016.
https://www.econetlab.net/dr-ckaiserbunbury). A French TV film on the advances and benefits of glacis restoration for Seychelles native biodiversity was produced by Pierre Lane and Camera Lucida production (clips are available from this website:
On Sunday 19 April 2015, PCA presented the project at the Earth Day celebrations at Port Glaud. A stall with versatile information material provided an overview on the objectives of the project and attracted the attention of several potential future guardians from Port Glaud community. Information about the project was also on display at the PCA stall during the 3-day National Day Knowledge Fair.
