Networking for Sea Turtle Conservation: Lessons Learned from the Mediterranean

In the azure waters of the Mediterranean Sea, a group of passionate conservation organizations came together with a common goal—to protect and conserve the endangered sea turtles that graced their shores, supported by BirdLife and the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF).
The Mediterranean Hotspot, one of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots, is home to an array of marine life, including sea turtles—ancient mariners that have roamed the oceans for millions of years. These remarkable creatures play a vital role in maintaining marine ecosystems, from balancing food webs to supporting the health of coral reefs and seagrass beds. However, they face growing threats from human activities such as overfishing, bycatch, coastal development, and climate change.
Efforts to protect vulnerable species like the Vulnerable Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) and the Endangered Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) have led to the formation of innovative conservation networks. In Cabo Verde, the TAOLA network, founded in 2009, has driven significant progress, establishing the country as one of the top three global nesting sites for loggerheads with over 200,000 nests annually in recent years.
Inspired by such success, conservation NGOs in North Africa came together to form NASTNet, a regional sea turtle conservation network covering Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. Recently formalized as a Tunisian NGO, NASTNet has advanced the standardization of monitoring protocols across these countries, enabling more effective conservation actions, reliable data comparison, and updates to the IUCN Red List.
Hosted by the CEPF Mediterranean Basin Biodiversity Hotspot, this one-and-a-half-hour webinar will feature insights from Wassim Amdrous, General Secretary of NASTNet, and Leno dos Passos, National Coordinator of TAOLA. They will discuss the challenges and successes of building networks, the importance of standardized protocols, and the role of collaboration in safeguarding sea turtles across the Mediterranean.
Join us to explore how collective action is driving conservation efforts and shaping the future of these iconic species. A discussion session will follow the presentations.