GOS-UNDP-GEF Sheath-tailed bat Small Grants Programme Project
Project Overview
The Silhouette Foundation (SF) is a national registered non-governmental organization composed of multiple partners that bring together a diverse group of interests and expertise. Their aim is to promote the conservation, rehabilitation and enhancement of Silhouette, in harmony with sustainable low impact human development and eco-tourism. The SF board of trustees meet at least-twice annually, and the island’s Sheath-tailed bat is always high on the agenda.
The Sheath-tailed bat (Coleura seychellensis) is a Seychelles endemic that remains the rarest bat species and one of the rarest mammals in the world, listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. The population is showing no signs of recovery, and currently hovers at ~65 extant individuals, split between three roosts on Mahe, and one larger, solitary roost on Silhouette. This project aims to increase nation-wide awareness of the Sheath-tailed bat and its extinction risk through community outreach, education, and awareness raising activities on Silhouette and Mahe, and to enhance in-country research and conservation expertise on this species. As such, this is a capacity building project that fits with the ‘conservation of biodiversity’ GEF SPG focal area and Seychelles National Sheath-tailed bat Species Conservation Action Plan 2013. The main project activities center on the development and implementation of a suite of educational programs and attention-grabbing outreach activities that will raise awareness of, engender support for, and promote the conservation of the Sheath-tailed bat. Notably, these include a ‘Save the Sheath-tailed bat Night’ community day on Silhouette, and an educational Sheath-tailed bat roadshow that will tour around schools and public hot spots on Mahe. In addition, state-of-the-art acoustic and video surveillance equipment will be acquired, coupled with expert training that will be take the form of a national workshop - to spread the project benefits across other in-country conservation practitioners, building national capacity and expertise.
The project will sensitize over 1,000 primary and secondary school children and thousands more Seychellois residents to the fragility of this species. Data elicited through a before and after survey (the first phase of which has already been completed) will provide a statistically valid indication of project success. Other indicators will include the number of person-weeks of training administered, and the production of a new training manual outlining best practices for Sheath-tailed bat conservation efforts in Seychelles. By its very nature, the project will attract media attention, and considerable media outputs (TV, radio, press articles etc.) will further indicate project success and simultaneously allow the project to reach a wider audience (indirect sensitization through reading / hearing about the project activities). This project will also make the general public more aware of their actions and behaviours as concerns the potentially harmful impacts (to bat environment and species viability) related to pesticides use, bat foraging and roosting habitat disturbance/destruction, and other human related impacts recognized as being responsible for the decline in bat populations in Seychelles. Increased awareness in the general public will result in more people supporting legislative changes proposed by Government representatives (appointed or elected) aimed at saving this emblematic species from extinction. The project started in 2014 and will end in June 2016.
The Sheath-tailed bat (Coleura seychellensis) is a Seychelles endemic that remains the rarest bat species and one of the rarest mammals in the world, listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. The population is showing no signs of recovery, and currently hovers at ~65 extant individuals, split between three roosts on Mahe, and one larger, solitary roost on Silhouette. This project aims to increase nation-wide awareness of the Sheath-tailed bat and its extinction risk through community outreach, education, and awareness raising activities on Silhouette and Mahe, and to enhance in-country research and conservation expertise on this species. As such, this is a capacity building project that fits with the ‘conservation of biodiversity’ GEF SPG focal area and Seychelles National Sheath-tailed bat Species Conservation Action Plan 2013. The main project activities center on the development and implementation of a suite of educational programs and attention-grabbing outreach activities that will raise awareness of, engender support for, and promote the conservation of the Sheath-tailed bat. Notably, these include a ‘Save the Sheath-tailed bat Night’ community day on Silhouette, and an educational Sheath-tailed bat roadshow that will tour around schools and public hot spots on Mahe. In addition, state-of-the-art acoustic and video surveillance equipment will be acquired, coupled with expert training that will be take the form of a national workshop - to spread the project benefits across other in-country conservation practitioners, building national capacity and expertise.
The project will sensitize over 1,000 primary and secondary school children and thousands more Seychellois residents to the fragility of this species. Data elicited through a before and after survey (the first phase of which has already been completed) will provide a statistically valid indication of project success. Other indicators will include the number of person-weeks of training administered, and the production of a new training manual outlining best practices for Sheath-tailed bat conservation efforts in Seychelles. By its very nature, the project will attract media attention, and considerable media outputs (TV, radio, press articles etc.) will further indicate project success and simultaneously allow the project to reach a wider audience (indirect sensitization through reading / hearing about the project activities). This project will also make the general public more aware of their actions and behaviours as concerns the potentially harmful impacts (to bat environment and species viability) related to pesticides use, bat foraging and roosting habitat disturbance/destruction, and other human related impacts recognized as being responsible for the decline in bat populations in Seychelles. Increased awareness in the general public will result in more people supporting legislative changes proposed by Government representatives (appointed or elected) aimed at saving this emblematic species from extinction. The project started in 2014 and will end in June 2016.
