Turtle Conservation
17th November 2010
Project Update  

Sri Lanka is home to 5 of the world's 7 species of sea turtles. For every 1000 eggs laid the survival rate is 1 or 2.

Construction of Turtle Conservation Research & Education Centre

Since 2005, ASL has supported a number of coastal conservation and rehabilitation initiatives through the Turtle Conservation Project (TCP). These projects have included setting up 15 local nurseries following the devastating tsunami that struck on 26th December 2004. From these nurseries, a total of 300,000 pandanus and mangrove plants have been replaced along the southern and western coastlines of Sri Lanka

ASL continues to support education & conservation projects and it is in this spirit that land was purchased for an exciting new Turtle Conservation Project. ASL is now constructing an innovative eco-friendly education and research centre on the land in Rekewa, Tangalle. This project is being coordinated and funded by ASL thanks to the generous support of many donors, including HRH the Prince of Wales.

Work is now well underway to construct this innovative eco-friendly centre. Local and international tourists as well as touring school groups will soon be visiting the centre to participate in night watching for turtles as well as learning first hand from local guides the importance of conserving Sri Lanka’s unique fauna and flora.

ASL TWINS Schools will soon be able to include the TCP Education and Research Centre as a destination point when planning their Educational Tours. Dormitory accommodation is also planned to enable children to turtle watch and then spend the night while on their educational tours.

The new centre is set to open to mark the 6th anniversary of the Indian-Ocean Tsunami on 26th December 2010. For further information email adoptsrilanka@gmail.com

15th November 2010 - Construction Update

Construction of the Turtle Conservation, Research & Education Centre is well underway! The photos below show the multi-purpose centre quickly taking shape. The Centre will efficiently use energy, water and other resources to minimize negative impacts on the environment. By utilising locally sourced natural materials the centre will actively reduce waste, pollution and environmental degradation to the local community while spreading an environmentally conscious message to Sri Lankan and international communities.

The Centre will include designated areas for a museum, information displays, café, offices as well as a shop selling fairly traded local products. Plans are also underway to construct traditional huts to house volunteers and visiting night watchers.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Pictures of the construction of the turtle centre

 

16th September 2010 - Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony

geoffrey dobbs

The 16th September 2010 marked a very special day in the ASL calendar; the traditional foundation stone laying ceremony of the ASL funded eco-friendly Turtle Conservation Research & Education Centre in Rekewa, Tangalle. ASL Founder Geoffrey Dobbs along with ASL staff members, representatives from TCP and local community members all participated in this special event.

A small box filled with seeds, gold and iron was placed into the ground while a member of the local community chanted blessings. Many Sri Lankans believe that this ceremony ensures that the building will be strong, prosperous and will be protected.

ASL TWINS Schools will soon be able to include the TCP Education and Research Centre as a destination point. Dormitory accommodation is also planned to enable children to turtle-watch and then spend the night while on their educational tours.

The TCP Education and Research Centre is set to be opened to mark the 6th Anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami on 26th December 2010.

For further information or to find out how your school can support this exciting initiative contact adoptsrilanka@gmail.com


The reforestation of the Sri Lankan Coastline after the 2004 Asian Tsunami

ASL has been supporting the Turtle Conservation Project that works in the key conservation areas on the south coast of Sri Lanka since 2005. Our support incorporates the mangrove and pandanus reforestation program and the turtle conservation program.

The devastating effect on the Sri Lankan coastline created by the 2004 Asian Tsunami literally tore apart the Sri Lankan coast line; denuding its natural habitat and vegetation along the way. As a direct result AdoptSriLanka immediately offered financial and volunteer support to TCP which we consider an extremely worthy project.

The TCP organisation is the only officially recognised Conservation project in Sri Lanka and headed by Thushan Kapurusinghe a well known Marine Biologist and his highly experienced team.

Our initial project was set up to provide funds for localised nurseries to grow pandanus and mangrove seedlings that were later replanted all along the coast from south of Colombo to Hambantota.

ASL funded 15 nurseries and from these nurseries a total of 300,000 seedlings have now been planted. These nurseries were organised by TCP who trained locals on the management of the plants and seedlings that eventually grew into the young saplings we permanently planted on the coast line. The size of this operation has now provided new employment alternatives and income for the local coastal communities.

Young mangrove saplings
Thousands of ASL pandanus saplings at the nursery
 
From this first initiative, the demand to generate income encouraged locals to diversify. In Sri Lanka there is also a demand for fruit and medicinal bearing trees. The benefit of these "produce trees" is obvious, they provide a very good income all year round and are popular alternatives of employment.

At the moment in Sri Lanka there is a huge demand for this type of planting and the TCP has even supplied fruit bearing plants to the coastal conservation and horticultural department who themselves don't have enough in their nurseries.

Most of Sri Lankan fruits are considered as medicinal and the country relies on a strong Ayurvedic medical system. With a large percentage of the country living below the poverty line there is a strong demand for herbal medicine as a cheaper alternative and often believed to be more effective. By stimulating the market for herbal remedies and herbal teas and drinks we think it achieves multiple purposes; “financial independence, environmental awareness and health consciousness”

Below our research team release one of the turtles after attaching a radio tracking device to monitor the migration pattern of turtles.
 
 
 
Human interest stories of local peoples lives that have been changed dramatically due to our tsunami assistance program.

Sampath was an alcoholic boy who before the tsunami was often fighting others, his marriage was suffering and he had no direction. TCP started the Kosgoda research project because Kosgoda is home to one of the world renowned beaches for the nesting of 5 of the 7 species of sea turtles. During a recruitment drive, Sampath was offered him a job collecting baseline data for research purposes. He began to bond with other researchers and became part of the team. Ten months later the tsunami hit Sri Lanka and in the immediate aftermath, ASL allocated funding for the reforestation projects on the affected coast line.

Sampath was selected by TCP to run one of AdoptSriLanka's plant nurseries and along with another 7 boys from the villages he managed to replant 70,000 beach pines (Pandanus) and mangroves on the denuded coastline.

Sampath was paid for every sapling that was replanted. With the money he earned he managed to purchase a small truck. Along with the nursery business, he was now earning extra money from TCP by transporting the plants to the permanent planting sights. These days he is doing very well indeed and the tsunami driven programme has changed his life.
 
Sampath proudly displaying some of his nursery plants
 
Cultural Considerations

According to the laws in SL it is illegal to harm or kill turtles but SL is a third world developing country and most people live in survival mode, they depend on their surroundings and the available resources to feed their families.

In Rekewa and Kosgoda people where collecting eggs and killing turtles to feed their families, we realised that we needed to help change their focus. We knew that just enforcing the law would not make much difference. So we introduced the poachers to an alternative livelihood and now these people who were once dependant on killing turtles and selling the eggs, have been given jobs as nest protectors on our protected beaches.

They have been educated on the conservation of turtles and these days they patrol the beaches 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Apart from protecting the nests, they also release the hatchlings back into the sea when the timing is right; for this they are paid a salary that is sufficient to live on. It's no longer necessary for them to harm the protected species. As a result they have been completely converted to environmental concerns and the awareness of conservation has been raised in the area. This will reflect in the younger generations as they pass their new knowledge and profession down. The communities of Kosgoda and Rekewa are slowly understanding the turtle phenomenon and the community have now some awareness of the added employment benefits
 

Sea Turtle egg nest at Kosgoda
 
Spin Off Projects

A batik project was developed with the wives of the nest protectors at Kosgoda community. Women play a vital role in family maintenance and very often like in the west, are expected to provide income as well as look after the family.. ASL created a programme by giving seed money and a rolling development fund where the women could get small loans to purchase materials and dye for the batik programme. The batik industry is also very favourable to the tourists and we have been encouraging women to incorporate the turtle theme to their designs in a two way promotion of Kosgoda. After the initial injection of financial assistance, they are now making some profits and with that money they are capable of batik production independently these days. TCP also supply uniforms to the researchers and nest protectors so that they can promote the batiks as a symbol of our work.
 


The nest protector's wives with their new batik business
 
Rekewa near Tangalle, is very well known for its women divers that illegally dive for coral and from that, they produce lime which they sell. These women risk their lives daily by swimming 100 meters out to sea and then often dive to depths of twenty meters for the coral.

Our organisation wanted to re-educate the women but had to provide an alternative to the destruction of the coral reef. Once again we were mindful that the reason they risked their lives daily was purely due to financial needs and rather than report them to coastal conservation, we offered these women jobs and training in Batik production and gave them a small wage. Now these women are working on batiks and are earning their living without the need to risk their lives and the coral reefs.

In the Rekewa area some people were cutting the mangroves down and selling the wood. We approached these people and once again offered them an alternative, this time as tourist guides. TCP sought permission from the tourist board and with a small amount of effort and training they are now official guides and take the tourists around the conservation sights giving their new found knowledge about their the wildlife and vegetation heritage area to tourists. We have educated them on conservation and thus managed to stop the culling of mangroves but most importantly they have developed a great sense of pride for their local area.

From the same villages that were denuding the mangroves, we encouraged them to develop nurseries to grow mangroves and pandanus in Rekewa as we had in Kosgoda. We purchased the small pots and the polythene to cultivate the seedlings and we asked them to collect the seedlings rather than to purchase them at triple the cost.

They received training instruction on how to choose the correct seedling. This work was directed at the women, they learnt to shake the branches of the trees and select the suitable seedlings. Once they put them in the pots to germinate, the nursery process developed until in a few weeks, hundreds of small plants stood waiting for planting on the coast...One group of women took it a little further and started to make the small polythene bags, they germinated seedlings in and sold them to other nurseries we set up. They are making a very good living from it.
 
Summary

The reforestation and turtles project employs over 200 people and there is a continuous training and education programme run by the directors to promote conservation through out Sri Lanka.

Not only is the programme working toward reforestation and turtle conservation but it has a very strong social conscience. AdoptSriLanka are always looking at alternative ways to change the heart and minds of the local traditions that harm conservation. At the heart of the policy is "not to criticise the old methods but to understand why these people have played an active role in the destruction of wild life and vegetation conservation through ignorance and financial necessity".

By creating alternatives we are generating new business and spreading awareness and pride through local communities on the value of their environment. This message has attracted the attention of many supporters world wide:

Following a visit by HRH the Prince of Wales which resulted in his showing great interest in projects initiated in Adopt Sri Lanka, Prince William became actively involved in raising funds for the TCP project and currently we are building a visitors centre in Rekewa under his patronage to further the understanding of coastal and marine conservation.

The tsunami denuded the coast line to a catastrophic proportion with two waves of destruction. Third world developing countries such as Sri Lanka have relied on the protected species and vegetations to survive for centuries. With the endangered coastline and protection of turtles, TCP and ASL are encouraged with the success of our program and seek other like minded organisations to support our efforts in the future.
 
     
Concept & Design by Pyxle