Seychelles to build sea wall to combat coastal erosion

Posted by Taylah Strauss on 11 July 2022

By building a sea wall along Beau Vallon’s main beach, Seychelles aims to combat coastal erosion and other effects of climate change.

‘The coastal erosion is seasonal whereby during certain monsoons you can observe sand accretion or sand loss, however, the amount of sand that comes back during sand accretion period is always less than the amount of sand that is washed away,’ says Annie Simeon, a senior climate adaption officer at the Climate Change Department.

A tourist hotspot, Beau Vallon is one of 18 areas outlined in the Seychelles Coastal Management Plan.

Three phases make up the plan. In phase one, a sea wall will be built between Savoy Resort and La Plage restaurant. The second phase will begin at the end of the restaurant and conclude at the local dive centre. The third phase was completed in 2021 mainly because it was the easiest part, and it consisted of armouring the river channel near the Baobab restaurant adjacent to the dive centre.

An estimated SCR4 million (R5, 15 million) will be spent on the project by the Environmental Trust Fund.

Vendors who refuse to relocate for the construction are halting the construction of the sea wall, Simeon said. ‘We do not have an erosion problem in the area. We have the opposite of erosion, an accumulation of sand. So to build a wall to stop erosion doesn’t  make sense,’ Richard Mancienne, owner of Boathouse restaurant told Seychelles News Agency.

‘Instead of building a wall in the beach it should be built alongside the road as part of the golden mile so that it is not in the sand but on the soil like a pavement around a foot high to stop water coming up on the road that happens once or twice a year,’ says Mancienne.

Picture: Unsplash

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