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Marine turtle experts to review progress on conservation, UN agency reports

Marine turtle experts to review progress on conservation, UN agency reports

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Marine turtle experts have gathered in Bangkok this week to measure the progress made since a regional secretariat to help protect the animals and their habitat was established a year ago, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported today.

The agency said the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding, set up last year under the auspices of the Convention on Migratory Species, is proving to be a success, with some States announcing new conservation projects and others wanting to join.

UNEP's Douglas Hykle, who coordinates activities under the initiative, said the 16 signatory countries are doing more and more to protect marine turtles, whose population has been under threat for years.

In the Persian Gulf region, UNEP has reported increasing signs of hawksbill turtles, which have been at risk, while in Timor-Leste turtle conservation programmes have been introduced.

Australia and the United States have announced plans to increase their spending on turtle conservation schemes, while UNEP expects Jordan, Pakistan and Oman will become signatories to the memorandum this week.

The meeting will also focus on two so-called hotspots for turtle conservation - Orissa, in India's east, and the Indonesian island of Bali - where green and olive ridley turtles are threatened by fishing.

The Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia are home to six of the world's seven species of marine turtle, who regularly nest at the same location year after year despite undertaking long migratory journeys across the seas.

Yet a combination of human degradation of their land habitat, interaction with fishing gear at sea, and the excessive harvesting of turtles for meat and for eggs have threatened the animals' existence.

The memorandum signatories are: Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Comoros, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Myanmar, Philippines, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, the US and Viet Nam.