The money comes from the Regional Programme for the Sustainable Management of the Coastal Zones of the Indian Ocean Countries (Recomap), which signed a grant agreement on Wednesday.
The Ecotourism Society of Seychelles receives €73,966 for its Anse Royale coastal project, while Sustainability for Seychelles gets €84,455 to look into the environmentally sustainable management of glass waste. The Green Island Foundation will use its grant of €77,780 to model integrated coastal zone management scenarios,
and the Atelye Pour Artizana has been given €96,115 to fund its project SOS – Save our Seychelles glass recycling.

Representatives of the four organizations signed the agreement with ReCoMap’s project director Michel De San at the ex-English River clinic. ReCoMap is funding almost 80% of these projects in total. The Ecotourism Society of Seychelles will receive 95% of its total budget, while the Green Island Foundation’s
grant will fund 81% of its project.

Under the agreement the organizations will also receive technical support from ReCoMap experts to manage the allocation of money. Mr De San explained that they will be given only 80% of the grant to start their projects, which must be completed after 18 months. A report will then have to be presented to ReCoMap, after which the
remaining 20% of the grants will be disbursed.

The four projects were among 381 in Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius and Tanzania as well as Seychelles. The ReCoMap programme, which started in August 2006, is a project of the Indian Ocean Commission and financed by the European Union.