Tour Operators Unite to Protect Key Nesting Beach

Ten leading ecotourism operators are supporting efforts by conservationists to protect Las Baulas National Marine Park in Costa Rica. Las Baulas, near the coastal town of Tamarindo, is the most important leatherback sea turtle nesting beach on the Pacific coast of the Americas. Developers in the region are supporting an effort to downgrade the park's status from a National Park to a Wildlife Refuge, which would open up areas of the park to development and threaten one of the last remaining nesting beaches for this species along the Pacific.

Pacific leatherback turtles are one of the most endangered populations of sea turtles worldwide, with a 90% drop in nesting numbers over the past two decades.

While entanglement in fishing gear is the primary reason these turtles are dying, loss of nesting habitat is a major threat. Developers and conservationists in this region have long been at odds over hotels being built too close to the nesting beach; increased coastal development in this area would further threaten these beleaguered turtles. This development would also threaten an important turtle watching industry that brings people to this area to witness these giant reptiles lay their eggs.

SEE Turtles, working in partnership with Pretoma and the Sea Turtle Restoration Project, has gained the support of 10 leading ecotourism operators (list below), who together represent thousands of visitors to the country and millions in spending. These forward thinking operators know that their business depends on protecting wildlife, travelers want to know their trips are helping to protect nature, not destroy it.

My first experience working with sea turtles was ten years ago on Playa Langosta, part of the national park. I witnessed first-hand how large hotels can affect nesting beaches, camping next to the Barcelo Langosta Resort as it was being built. The hotel destroyed mangroves, lit up the nesting beach, and brought people who trample the beach with no idea of its importance. If this change is allowed to take place, Las Baulas is destined for more of this kind of unsustainable tourism, which damages wildlife while providing minimal benefits for local communities.

To learn more about this situation, read the ezine "Voice of the Leatherback Turtle" on NatureAir's blog.

To express your support to maintain the protections of Las Baulas, click here.

Read the full tour operator letter here.

Here's the full list of tour operators and travel non-profits who signed on:

SEE Turtles

Wildland Adventures

EcoTeach

Holbrook

Geographic Expeditions

GAP Adventures

Planeterra Foundation

Costa Rica Undiscovered

Global Vision International

Environmental Adventure Company

Blog Action Day

We at SEE Turtles can't possibly pass up participating in the first annual Blog Action Day, this year focused on climate change. Regular readers of this blog (both of you) have probably noticed that its a subject we've been focused on lately. There's a good reason for that, as sea turtles are one of the most affected creatures by global warming. They are even nominated for National Wildlife Federation's new face of global warming. Here's an interesting National Geographic article about new measures conservationists are taking to adapt, with a quote from our advisory board member Carlos Drews of WWF Latin America.

I've already plugged 350.org's International Day of Action on October 24th. Use the link to find an action near you. An innovative new campaign is called tcktcktck (as in a ticking clock) to pressure for a strong climate treaty. Are you a young person who wants to speak out? Try Kids Vs Global Warming. Finally, with reports that oil companies are convincing more people to call their representatives against climate legislation, make sure to let your representative you want a strong bill passed. Environmental Defense Fund has a good site to voice your opinion.

The Autumn of Global Warming

Following on our August post on The Summer of Plastic, the overriding eco-theme of the new season is shaping up to be global warming (I'll skip the overused "heating up" metaphor). We at SEE Turtles are glad to see increasing coverage of the issue after a summer dominated by the health care debate. While we also feel strongly about health care, we don't agree with President Obama's recent remark that its the "defining issue of our generation." In our opinion, global warming is clearly the biggest challenge right now, one who's reverberations will go way beyond our country's economy and public health.

Among the recent news on climate change is today's introduction of the Senate version of a climate bill (from MSNBC.com). We're happy to see a larger cut in the short-term (20% by 2020) and other improvements from the House version, but this bill is a starting point that is sure to be negotiated downward as it makes it way through the Senate. Also coming out today is our new page on how sea turtles will be affected by a changing climate, you might be surprised at how many ways these creatures will be affected. An obvious impact on turtles is sea level rise, here's a TreeHugger article on the imminence of a two meter rise (6.5 feet for the metric-impaired).

Despite the uncertain fate of climate legislation in the Senate, there is some good news out there. Japan's new government has announced a much stronger commitment to reducing emissions (from BBC) and China is rapidly moving forward on renewable energy (from Grist). Companies are jumping ship from the US Chamber of Commerce (also Grist) for their stance on the issue (our neighbor in Beaverton, Nike just joined the list!). I used to work for a group called Ozone Action that effectively dismantled a corporate group called the Global Climate Coalition, its good to see this kind of work still going on. However, even when there's good news, like when WWF discovers more than 150 new species in the Greater Mekong region of Asia, there's a flip side - these species may already be threatened by climate change.

We encourage everyone out there who cares about wildlife to get involved in the upcoming debate about climate legislation. One great way to take part will be to join 350.org's international day of action, with events around the world. Expect to see from us several ways you can help through our Twitter, Facebook, blog and other social networks.

-Brad Nahill