Sea Turtles & Plastic Program Update
In the last two months, our Sea Turtles & Plastic program has made tremendous progress. We gave 14 small grants (US $6,000) in 8 different countries for beach cleanups during Sea Turtle Week. We also gave two year-long beach cleanup grants for a total of US $7,000 in June and 5 recycling grants for a total of US $23,000. The cleanup grants were donated by our partner Dots Eco and the recycling grants were thanks to our donor World Nomads Footprints grogram along with donor Next Earth and our Sustainable Travel Sponsors.
Sea Turtle Week
With the support of our partner Dots.Eco, we were able to support beach cleanups in different countries during the upcoming Sea Turtle Week. With $6,000 we were able to support 14 different organizations in 8 different countries with an estimated of more than 54,000 pounds of trash taken out from marine turtle nesting beaches.
The projects / beaches supported were:
Fundação Tartaruga. Boa Esperança, Boa Vista, Cabo Verde
Kiunga Turtle Conservation Group. Kiwayu, Kenya
Grobios A.C. Bahias de Papanoa Estero Colorado Santuario Playa Piedra de Tlacoyunque, Guerrero, Mexico
Kiunga Community wildlife association, Lamu, Kenya
Greening Forward Cameroon. Isobe-Idenau Cameroon
Agbo-Zegue. Togolese littoral (Site 1, 2 and 3 in Lomé - Togo)
Center For Community Enhancement Cameroon, Buea- Southwest Region Cameroon
Kenyan Youth Biodiversity Network. Diani beach, Kenya
Ecological Conservation Puerto Rico. Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Marereni Biodiversity Conservancy. Marereni beach, Kilifi county, North coast, Kenya
Sustainable Ocean Alliance Cameroon. Batoke, Limbe Cameroon
Centro de Protección y Conservación de la Tortuga Marina "ECOMAR-UAGro". Llano Real, Benito Juárez, Guerrero, Mexico
Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD). Bundu beach, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Barra de la Cruz, Oaxaca, México
Volunteers participating in a Sea Turtle Week beach cleanup in Togo, Africa run by the AGBO-ZEGUE organization.
COASTS (Costa Rican Alliance for Sea Turtle Conservation & Science), Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge (REGAMA), Costa Rica
COASTS is mainly removing plastic from the mouth of the Rio Sixaola and adjacent stretch of beach during the sea turtle nesting season. The river carries a lot of plastic debris out into the ocean, which is then washed back onto the beach. The adjacent beach (Gandoca) is an important nesting ground for leatherback and hawksbill turtles. Because of rising sea levels worldwide, the part of the beach that is suitable for nesting is disappearing into the ocean and the rest is drowning in plastic. They have started to remove plastic during the past two nesting seasons and have pulled a total of 2117 kg (more than 2 metric tons) of plastic so far. Due to the inaccessibility of the river mouth and its large plastic deposits, they need to charter a boat that can help us transport the bags full of collected plastic back to the village (5+km) for processing. We supported COASTS with US $5,000 to support their beach cleanups for the next 2 years.
Palawan Biodiversity Conservation Advocates. Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines
This project engages in 5 land-based clean-up activities in selected coastal barangays in Dumaran Island, Palawan that are known to be nesting sites of sea turtles. Members of the communities where the activity will be conducted will be the main participants in the clean-ups with other stakeholders who are willing to volunteer for the events. This project is estimated to collect around 250 kg (550 lbs) per month in these beaches. Our plastic recycling program supported this project with US $2,500.
Plastic Recycling Grants
Kishoka Youth Community Based Organization, Mombasa Kenya
Sea turtle populations in Kenya are declining due to degradation of critical nesting habitats with plastic marine litter. This is enhanced by the growing population associated with increasing human activities in the area. This project is an expansion of Kishoka’s plastic management project currently taking place in Mtongwe. It will be conducted in Likoni sub-county with a shoreline of about 25km with an aim of restoring five critical (Denyenye, Pungu Villa, Timbwani, Shelly Beach, and Mtongwe) turtle nesting beaches in the area. The students and community members will be trained and mentored through waste segregation processes, creation of artefacts like bangles, stools etc. and also connected with recyclers like Kwale Plastic Plus to purchase their excess plastics, rubber and glasses collected. The project will establish plastic collection points in each site and provide the community members with basic clean-up materials and transport for their wastes besides marketing their created products. Capacity building activities will be provided through interactive indoor lectures and active practical sessions in the field. Education and awareness materials (banners, charts, brochures) will also be produced and shared with them to enhance their environmental ambassadorial activities. Creation of artefacts and sell of the excess litter will boost the local communities’ household income and creating an alternative livelihood than the current reliance on tourism and fishing activities.
Volunteers with Kishoka after a beach cleanup in Africa
Wildlife Conservation Association. Nosara, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
This project aims to consolidate the existing recycling efforts of the community of Nosara. By selling products and offering educational workshops, they will promote a circular economy in the area, increasing awareness, helping manage waste from development and creating new and innovative sources of income to support conservation. At the Ostional National Wildlife Refuge, solid waste and recycling have been collected by a community-based initiative in the area since 2008. Currently, more than 6.5 tons of PET and HDPE plastic are collected and recycled annually. This project will benefit sea turtle conservation by keeping plastic out of the oceans and consolidating local initiatives to create a more sustainable and circular economy with local plastic waste. By giving a percentage of sales to the Ostional National Wildlife Refuge, they will further support sea turtle conservation by providing additional resources to carry out and enforce conservation in the area. Our plastic recycling program supported this project with US $4,500.
Comunidad Protectora de Tortugas de Osa (COPROT). Carate, Rio Oro and Pejeperro beaches, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
COPROT has been our partner for several years through our Billion Baby Turtles program. Now we are happy to be able to extend our support to their beach cleanups and recycling program. Their goal is to link sea turtle conservation research with community engagement and sustainable practices. Additionally to the turtle monitoring and awareness, with this grant they plan to support the next step in the development of their plastic project: to provide a salary for a local employee, to expand their recycling center, and to host an educational workshop to familiarize the community with plastics and their threats to sea turtles and ecosystem health. Our plastic recycling program supported this project with US $4,500.
Osa Conservation. Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica
The Osa Conservation Sea Turtle program monitors and protects two important nesting beaches stretching 6.5 km in the Southern Pacific of Costa Rica. High predation rates by native and domestic wildlife, nest poaching, plastic pollution, and sea level rise and erosion are the main threats at these nesting beaches. Along with their turtle monitoring and hatchery program they are also executing regular beach clean ups and plastic recycling workshops with local, national, and international volunteer participation. With our Plastic Recycling grant of US $4,500 they will create light guardians (light covers to reduce light pollution) from recycled plastics to implement in hotels close to nesting beaches, to turn plastics into “second-chance souvenirs” to provide extra income for local people, and to increase awareness on plastic pollution and implementing alternatives to single-use plastics.
Centro de Rescate de Especies Marinas Amenazadas (CREMA). Nandayure, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
In 2015, CREMA began a sea turtle research and conservation project in coastal communities from the canton of Nandayure, Guanacaste in Costa Rica. In this area 4 different species of sea turtles nest. Local communities have supported research initiatives and volunteer programs as a way to activate the economy and tourism in the area. However, the lack of political will and the growing urban development on the coasts of Costa Rica has caused the beaches of Nandayure to become affected by large amounts of both recyclable and non-recyclable wastes, which directly affect the adult turtles that frequent these beaches, as well as development of hatchlings in nests. Taking this into account, since 2019 CREMA began a collaboration with a community initiative led by Aníbal Cortés García, a community leader in charge of collecting, classifying, and sending solid wastes from 14 coastal communities to recycling centers. In this way they have managed to carry out more than 100 beach clean ups, collecting and transporting to collection centers almost 7 tons of waste. Our plastic recycling program supported this project with US $4,500.