Seychelles Tuesday March 16 became the small first island nation in the world to develop an integrated national strategy for plant conservation under the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC).

The secretary general of Botanical Garden Conservation International (BGCI), Dr Peter Wyse-Jackson, said this during the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop which started Tuesday at the International Conference Centre.

"Seychelles is the first small first state in the world to take this important step to plan its response to the GSPC," Dr Wyse-Jackson said, noting that the meeting has been organised so soon after the adoption of a global strategy for plant conservation.

Reacting to the announcement, Environment and Natural Resources Minister Ronny Jumeau said that turning out first is quite an achievement internationally.

He said it was also worth noting that, on the national level, this initiative was being led by the country's smallest and newest non-governmental organisation, the Plant Conservation Action (PCA) group, which is hosting the workshop.

According to Dr Wyse-Jackson the results of the workshop will be important not only for Seychelles, but will also serve as a model for other countries throughout the world.

"It is very appropriate that Seychelles should take this step not only because of its very rich assemblage of native and endemic plants but because it is also the location of one of the few true plant icons in the world, the coco de mer, which in people's imagination can probably rival the panda, the elephant or the rhino, and there are too few plants in the world."

He said that Seychelles, which is home to 91 threatened or near threatened species of which 33 are either critically endangered or simply endangered, has the highest percentage of threatened flora in any country.

"Clearly, many efforts have been made to safeguard the flora with such efforts as the establishment of national parks and protected areas and by restricting development in priority areas," he said.

He said that unless steps are taken the situation can only get worse.

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