Community-based biodiversity assessment and continued protection of an endangered population of nesting sea turtles in two protected areas
Partners:
The objectives for this project are:
Outcome 1: Continue the protection of a globally important loggerhead turtle nesting site.
Outcome 2 : Collect baseline data on the species, habitats, ecosystems, resources and pressures present in the PA’s and increase knowledge and awareness of local people concerning the PA’s.
Outcome 3: Improve the livelihoods of local community members through direct employment as rangers by improving the capacity of local farmers to grow climate resilient crops.
Outcome 4: Increase in awareness and recognition of the PAs nationally and internationally.
So far, until the end of August we have achieved the following:
- Completion of a workshop for eight Cabo Verdeans to teach them how to use drones in sea turtle conservation.
- Purchase of four drones for sea turtle conservation and biodiversity monitoring.
- Completion of three months of nesting sea turtle conservation
- across 40km of important nesting beaches
- from 6 different conservation camps
- involving 147 people
- >48,000 turtle nests recorded
- >318 turtles rescued
- and more than >9000 turtles monitored.
- Completion of 77 missions by the dog and drone team.
Medium Grant
Goal
Our overall goal is to make an important contribution to the conservation of biodiversity on Boa Vista/Cabo Verde through species recovery, knowledge and awareness increase and involvement of the local communities.
Timeline
June 2023 – December 2024
Background:
Cabo Verde has 47 Protected Areas.
Boa Vista is home to 14 of these.
IMET
In October 2021, Fundacao Tartaruga organised a weeklong workshop to evaluate the management of the two largest protected areas on the island: Parque Natural do Norte and Reserva Natural da Tartaruga. An Integrated Management Effectiveness Tool (IMET) was used to complete an in-depth assessment on these two protected areas. Fundacao Tartaruga has four turtle conservation camps located in these two PAs and relentlessly works against mitigating the impacts of various threats and pressures facing turtles and their habitats.
Assessing the effectiveness of management of the Turtle Reserve and the Nothern Nature Park using IMET
Parque Natural do Norte
The Parque Natural do Norte is the protected area with the largest surface area on the island of Boavista, this protected area covers an approximate surface area of 22,047.00 ha (8,910.00 terrestrial and 13,137.00 marine). The basis for its declaration was to accompany the conservation of natural values (presence of turtle nesting areas, presence of avifauna of interest, mainly birds of prey and steppe birds, and geomorphological and landscape features) with the socioeconomic development of local populations, by enhancing traditional activities.
Reserva Natural de Tartaruga
The Reserva Natural de Tartaruga forms a large area (1,439 ha) that covers the coastline and an inland section parallel to it, along the entire eastern and southern flank of the island, from the base of Moro Negro to Cruzinha Brito Beach. It also encompasses an important marine area, with 13,436 ha, along its entire coastal area which corresponds to three nautical miles. The Turtle Nature Reserve was declared with the aim of conserving the beaches as turtle nesting areas, the wetlands and salt lands important for wading and migratory birds and the seabird colonies of Ponta do Roque and the cliffs of Morro Negro
This process gathered stakeholders from different organisations to look in depth at the Protected Areas and how we can improve them. This process was lead by Bertille Mayen from BIOPAMA.
Together with key members of the community we gathered information regarding the law and policies related to the protected areas, identified the resources they have available, identified the key species, habitats, ecosystem resources and pressures on each PA, analysed and evaluated their outputs and products and identified which areas need to be addressed in order to improve the management and sustainability of them. We also evaluated the needs and demands of the local communities living in and around the protected areas.
We identified that the PAs lack financial resources and personnel and also a lack of data regarding biodiversity and climate change monitoring.
One reoccurring message throughout the process was the stark lack of information readily available regarding the PAs. Only 7 of the 47 Protected Areas registered in Cabo Verdean law are registered on the World Database of Protected Areas (WDPAs). Without international recognition it is difficult to obtain the necessary resources including financial, technical and personnel in order to ensure the PAs are managed effectively.
See a summary of our analysis here:
Disclaimer
This website has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States through the BIOPAMA Programme. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of Fundacao Tartaruga and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union nor of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States.
About BIOPAMA The Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) programme aims to improve the long-term conservation and sustainable use of natural resources in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, in protected areas and surrounding communities. It is an initiative of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States financed by the European Union’s 11th European Development Fund (EDF), jointly implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC). Building on the first five years of activities financed by the 10th EDF (2012-2017), BIOPAMA’s second phase provides tools for data and information management, services for improving the knowledge and capacity for protected area planning and decision making, and funding opportunities for specific site-based actions. www.biopama.org
