 
Juvenile hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) NOAA photo library
Marine Turtle Conservation: a diagnostic tool for success
How to Define Success
The purpose of this Diagnostic Tool for Success
This diagnostic tool is meant to be used by organizations and groups, located anywhere in the world, to assist in the evaluation of current or future marine turtle conservation efforts. The goal is to assist program managers and members in identifying, prioritizing and addressing weaknesses to make conservation programs more efficient – both biologically and economically. Challenges facing marine turtle conservation, and all natural resource conservation for that matter, particularly in developing countries are especially complex. Furthermore, resources, both human and monetary, are limited. A successful conservation program will be one that uses resources such that the greatest results are achieved. A successful program is one which is using its resources in the most efficient way possible. This tool will help programs identify where resources may be utilized more efficiently by highlighting seven factors, arranged by priority in four tiers which should be addressed in order for a program to be successful in the long term.
What is Success?
In the early stages of this project, we met with advisor Nancy Knowlton who made a powerful statement as we discussed how a conservation program should judge its success and efficiency; she noted that it should be the outcomes, not the outputs which are used to assess conservation efforts. Reports, especially to funders, are important, but actual improvements in the resources being conserved should be the real benchmarks. And as our project focuses on conservation of marine turtles in developing countries, it should also be noted that the conservation of a natural resource is directly correlated to the well-being of the local community. If the people in the targeted region are suffering, then so – it can often be assumed – are the natural resources. For marine turtles, their nesting habitats, foraging grounds, and migratory waters, conservation is dependent on the local communities that share, utilize, and are in close proximity to these same resources to also become better off.
To revisit the initial question being addressed by our diagnostic tool, “what is success?” we determined that for a marine turtle conservation program it is an observed and sustained increase in nesting marine turtle populations and the people’s livelihood of the local communities being shifted away from consumptive value of marine turtles.
Marine turtles have inherently complex life cycles which create an extremely complicated setting from which to assess conservation. As this tool is designed to be used especially by on-the-ground efforts in developing countries, it was determined that success will be best assessed by a sustained increase in nesting female turtles. Other factors such as increased hatchling numbers, reduced near- and off-shore bycatch, and fewer strandings are other measures that could be considered in addition to the primary measure of nesting females, yet these factors would be much more difficult to quantify and evaluate by most communities. In addition to a population increase, it is also essential that each conservation program use resources efficiently. This means that if a program is using 50% of its human and monetary resources in tasks that are contributing to less than 50% of the observed results, then resources could and should be rearranged and allocated so that every dollar and every work-hour is contributing to actual results. In doing so, the marginal cost is maximizing benefit. Quantifying this is not a simple task, but it should, nonetheless, be a top consideration of program directors and managers and this tool may assist in this effort.
More Information
How to use this diagnostic tool
Creating the Framework
What is Least-Cost?
References
Links
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