New Delhi, Oct 22: The Green Sea turtle is now not an endangered treasure.The IUCN Red List has recently excluded the rare marine species, after diverge ways of conservation recorded 28% growth of the kind.
Once classified as “endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, green turtles’ status was recently downgraded. Thus, the environmentalists’ conservation efferots have now flagged the Green Sea Turtle as a “least concern”marine being.
According to the Earth Org. the Green sea turtles are bouncing back thanks to decades of sustained conservation action, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced earlier this month.
The species’ latest assessment was carried out in December 2024 and showed that the global population has increased since the 1970s, leading to its reclassification on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species from “endangered” to “least concern”.
Established in 1964, the list is one of the world’s most comprehensive sources of information on the global extinction risk status of animal, fungus and plant species. It counts 172,620 species, of which 48,646 are threatened with extinction.
“Conservation efforts have focused on protecting nesting females and their eggs on beaches, expanding community-based initiatives to reduce unsustainable harvest of turtles and their eggs for human consumption, curtailing trade, and using Turtle Excluder Devices and other measures to reduce the accidental capture of turtles in fishing gear,” the IUCN said in a press release.
Roderic Mast, Co-Chair of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission Marine Turtle Specialist Group, said the recovery is a “powerful example of what coordinated global conservation over decades can achieve.”
“Such approaches must focus not only on the turtles, but on keeping their habitats healthy, and their ecological functions intact,” Mast added.
Conservation groups worldwide including the environmentalists and nature lovers welcomed the reclassification for significant growth in the Green Sea Turtles’ numbers and conducive climate for their breeding with sustainable growth.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)’s Global Marine Turtle Conservation Lead Christine Madden called it is “a major win for turtle conservation and proof that coordinated action can reverse populations at risk of extinction.”
“This is a major milestone globally, but it’s not a time to be complacent. Conservation efforts must continue for green turtle populations to continue to thrive and recover in areas where they remain threatened by fishing gear entanglement, overfishing and loss of habitats,” she added.
Worth mentioning, the Green Sea Turtle is the second largest of seven sea turtle species and has an incredibly wide geographical distribution, nesting in over 80 countries and inhabiting the temperate, tropical coastal waters of approximately 140 countries.
For decades, threats such as habitat loss, climate change, pollution, invasive species, commercial fishing and the illegal wildlife trade continue to contribute to the species’ decimation. Throughout the late 20th century, global populations experienced a 48-67% decline, according to the IUCN. But conservation efforts allowed the species to bounce back, with a population increased of around 28% compared to 1970s and 1980s levels.
“Despite multiple, consistent, and in some cases increasing (e.g., climate change impacts) threats, conservation efforts to protect nesting females and their eggs, and those to reduce harvest pressure, have been successful in many places around the world,” the IUCN said.
However, some subspecies of the sea turtle genus, including those living in Costa Rica and Hawaii, remain yet threatened awaiting conservation initiatives, cited the Earth Org.
