Turtle Power- Learn 8

I decided for THE PARTICIPATION OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES IN THE CONSERVATION OF WETLA...

Like you can see in the headline, the article is about the marine turtles of Ghana. The zone between Volta estuary and Pram pram represents a concentrated breeding area for turtles nesting along the beaches of Ghana. The major threat to marine turtles is predation on eggs and juveniles by domestic animals especially pigs and human exploration. Female turtles which come to the beaches to lay eggs are normally ambushed and killed as soon as they start laying because they become weak and hence easy to capture. Where the female succeeds to complete laying the eggs the local people follow on at dawn to look for the tracks and dig up the eggs. Special fishing nets are also used for trapping the turtles by local fishermen. The turtle meat and eggs are eaten or traded for cash income and dogs. Because of this reasons maritime turtles were expected to extinct in some years. The extinction of turtle, apart from the ecological effects will also have social, economic and cultural impacts on the local communities. The communities can no longer depend on turtles as a source of food and income.

The initiative by the Ghana Wildlife Society to adopt a strategy which actively involves the local coastal communities in the conservation of marine turtles emerged from the fact that the past policies which excluded local communities in the management of wildlife resources were ineffective. These past approaches generated antagonism and often resulted in conflicts between the local people and wildlife officers.

Now, workshops bring chiefs, representatives of communities living along the coast, scientists and conservationists from the universities and relevant government departments together.

Some of the important recommendations from this workshop, among others were that:

• the District assemblies should be encouraged to formulate byelaws to regulate the rearing of domestic animals which prey on turtles

• animal rearers such as the pig owners to be assisted to construct structures to ensure better husbandry

• community task forces should be formed to be responsible for education and turtle conservation activities

• alternative economic activities to be promoted to reduce pressure on turtles as a means of livelihood

• fishermen whose nets are destroyed by turtles should be compensated as an incentive to release them back into the sea

And these are the lessons that you can learn from this example:

• the key lesson is that local people will support the conservation of natural resources if

     (1) they are recognized and respected as equal partners by conservation officers and are empowered to be able to contribute effectively to the conservation process and

     (2) if they have ownership of the resource and are convinced of the benefits that the conservation of a particular resource will bring to them

• the involvement of the local communities created an opportunity for the Ghana Wildlife Society to gain better insight and to understand the turtle problem from the perspectives of the local people.