National Consultancy on Cost-Effective Techniques for the Rehabilitation of Burned/Deforested Land
BACKGROUND
Historically and presently, forest fires are one of the main causes of deforestation and ensuing land degradation in the Seychelles. For the past several years, numerous wildfires have occurred in the country (especially on Praslin) and in the most severe cases, the effects of wildfires have resulted in substantial loss of vital ecosystem and land resources.
However, the physical and chemical attributes of the Seychelles' landscape often limits natural regeneration and rehabilitation of burned/degraded areas, and a scarcity of resources has precluded the development and testing of cost-effective strategies for post-fire rehabilitation.
Research capacity needs to be developed, not only on forest fire ecology and rehabilitation programmes, but as a baseline to help establish and devise suitable guidelines, protocols, training and cost-effective models to address the threats of forest fires.
COMMISSION
The PCA has been comissioned to manage this National Consultancy, and has established the following objectives:
What are the common practices for post-fire vegetation rehabilitation?
Which criteria could be identified in order to know which type of rehabilitation should be established in which area?
Based on the above, which treatments should be tested where?
What are the practical constraints and the local capacities and interests to be considered in order to build up a rehabilitation programme in the long term?
Which indicators could we use in order to assess/quantify the evolution of areas treated for rehabilitation?
Design and implement site experiments of the short-term and long-term rehabilitation methods and management, in selected sites on Praslin, to identify best practices.
Diffuse the fundametal and practical knowledge to the relevant stakeholders and key partners.