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In
the shallow turquoise
waters off the island
of Providenciales in
Turks and Caicos—a
British overseas
territory south of the
Bahamas—large adult
green sea turtles rest
on the sandy seafloor,
grazing on seagrass.
Juveniles surface for
air as they swim
through mangrove
forests, while others
tuck themselves into
the shadows of coral
reef crevices. It’s a
scene of quiet
abundance that can’t
be taken for granted.
For more than 40
years, green sea
turtles teetered on
the brink of
extinction around the
world, their numbers
decimated by
commercial hunting of
the animals for their
meat, harvesting of
their eggs and
destruction of their
nesting beaches as
seaside developments
took over coastlines.
Many have been fatally
ensnared in fishing
gear or choked by
drifting plastic
debris.
Yet, despite these
threats, decades of
persistent
conservation efforts
have slowly helped
reverse the species’
decline.
Earlier this month,
the International
Union for Conservation
of Nature (IUCN)
reported that the global population of green turtles has increased
nearly 30 percent
since the 1970s,
thanks to a suite of
international actions
aimed at saving the
animals.
Since the 1970s, a web
of protections has
supported the animals’
recovery.
International bans
have been placed on
the commercial trade
of sea turtles. An
increasing number of
national laws prohibit
fishing them for their
meat and harvesting
their eggs.
Community-led
initiatives have been
aimed at guarding
nesting beaches from
poachers and rising
seas that threaten to
flood the turtles’
nests.
More of our
coverage of the
biggest story on the
planet:
-
Fueled
by unusually warm
waters, Hurricane Melissa this week turned into one
of the strongest
Atlantic storms
ever recorded.
Research suggests
that climate
change made the
deadly tropical
cyclone four times
more likely.
-
The
U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service
is proposing to
list Florida’s
elusive ghost orchid under the Endangered Species
Act.
-
The
Trump
administration’s
emergency order to
keep the huge J.H. Campbell coal plant on Lake Michigan
operating past its
planned retirement
date has cost at
least $80 million
since May.
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