Cousin Islands (Seychelles): Conservationists in the Seychelles claim climate change is endangering a protected island reserve, home to an array of endemic species, from seabirds to turtles. Rising tides are threatening to wash away vital nesting sites, used by the critically endangered hawksbill turtle.
On the remote Seychelles Cousin Island, good news for conservationists - a critically endangered hawksbill turtle is nesting.
After laying her eggs, she covers them with sand and slowly makes her way back towards the ocean. Her young will emerge in about eight weeks.
Cousin Island is claimed to be the most important nesting ground for the marine turtles in the whole of the Western Indian Ocean.
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Nearby conservationists, from environmental NGO Nature Seychelles, carefully monitor the process, and mark the site so passers-by don't disturb the eggs.
"Cousin is one of the main hotspots for the Hawksbill turtle nesting season in the western Indian Ocean, so we have a very intense period on Cousin monitoring the turtles," explains Yan Coquet, from Nature Seychelles.
Once hunted for their meat and eggs, now the marine turtles are threatened by a loss in nesting and feeding habitats, also by pollution and climate change.
According to the IUCN's Red List, the marine turtle remains critically endangered.
But on the protected special reserve of Cousin Island, an eight-fold increase in nesting turtles has been recorded since a monitoring programme was put in place.
"They have been harvested by men for years, in the Indian Ocean, in the Caribbean, everywhere. It was in the culture of people living on the island to harvest the turtles for the meat and the eggs," says Coquet.
"That's why the provision started to decline. So, since we started to put some areas, like Cousin, we saw the change of the number of nesting turtles getting bigger."
Cousin Island is claimed to be a conservation success story.
Previously a coconut plantation, the 27-hectare granitic island was purchased in the 1960s by the International Council for the Protection of Birds, now BirdLife International.
The aim was to protect its endemic bird population. Now, its native forest is filled with land birds, including the Seychelles magpie robin, and nesting seabirds, including the white-tailed tropicbird.
But conservationists from Nature Seychelles, which manages the island, are warning climate change could undo all their hard work.
"We see coastal erosion, for example, we see some of the turtle nests being washed away," says Nirmal Shah, the chief executive of Nature Seychelles.
"We see our infrastructure being threatened, the houses of the wardens. We see a movement of the sands of the beaches which are very unusual. Even the sea is behaving in an abnormal manner.
"So, yes we do see it, we are concerned about it and in Seychelles I think everybody knows what climate change is."
According to a July 2017 report by the Asia Development Bank, sea levels rose about 19 centimetres (7.5 inches) globally over the past century.
They are forecast to rise by about 2.3 metres (7.5 feet) for every degree Celsius of global warming as glaciers and ice caps melt, the report said, citing past climate observations.
"It could rise by one foot, and then on that particular day you have a high tide, you have a storm surge and you have heavy rain, which happens not too infrequently," says Shah.
"So, what happens is that the sea will be driven up onto the land, all the turtle nests will be washed away, the forest will die because of salt intrusion and everything dies. So yes, it is a problem and it could happen overnight."
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According to Michelle Murray, chief executive officer of the Island Conservation Society, climate change is the "biggest threat" to the Seychelles.
The Seychelles' 115 islands together add up to just 455 square kilometres (176 square miles) of land - about the same as San Antonio, Texas.
But its exclusive economic zone stretches to 1.4 million square kilometres (540 million square miles) of sea, an area almost the size of Alaska.
The island nation of fewer than 100,000 people is already feeling the effects of climate change, with rising water temperatures bleaching its coral reefs.
"Certainly the biggest threat for Seychelles as a small island developing state is climate change," says Murray.
"And with climate change you have the associated dangers of sea-level rise and we feel the impact directly because it affects the way we live and the way we engage with nature."
Conservationists on Cousin are taking steps to limit their own environmental impact.
In 2010, the special reserve became what's claimed to be the world's first-ever carbon neutral nature reserve.
Its carbon emissions, according to calculations mostly caused by visiting tourists, are offset by purchasing carbon credits by donating to a project in Sudan.
Tourist visits are limited to just a few hours a day. Entry fees are being increased in the hope of dissuading further visitors. In June, it will increase to about $44 per-visitor.
Wardens hope visitors will take home a strong message of change.
"Maybe the world for once should all think as one and work for the betterment of us and for the future generations that are coming," says senior warden Christopher Mahoune.
"Because it can be selfish to think about; 'I'm here now, I make as much money as I can, I'm going die soon, I don't care.' So you should think about younger generations that are coming and make sure that when we leave, we leave it in the proper state that they can also bring it and make it a much better place and hopefully things will change for the better."
This month the ambitious Nekton "First Descent" Indian Ocean mission will start surveying underwater life, plus map the sea floor and drop sensors to depths of up to 2,000 meters in the seas around the Seychelles. The impact of global warming on the ocean and marine life will form part of their research.
The mission will conclude with the State of the Indian Ocean Summit in 2022.
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(With inputs from APTN)
