The Sri Lanka Turtle Conservation Project marked its 30th anniversary on Wednesday evening with a ceremony at its conservation centre in Rekawa, where villagers, conservationists and long-time supporters were given awards and certificates for their work protecting the country’s marine wildlife.
For three decades, residents of the southern coastal village have kept watch over nesting beaches where endangered sea turtles come ashore at night to lay their eggs, NewsFirst reported. Protecting the nests and seeing hatchlings safely into the sea has become, in the outlet’s account, part of the identity of the community itself.
28 livelihoods, and a village that changed
Thushan Kapurusinghe of the Turtle Conservation Project told the ceremony the work has reshaped the local economy as much as the beach.
“Today, 28 people directly earn their livelihood through this project. But its impact goes far beyond those 28 individuals,” he said. “If you travel from Netolpitiya to this area, you can clearly see how much the village has transformed over the years. There is no doubt that the growth of tourism in this community has been driven by the Turtle Conservation Project.”
He said tour operators report that visitors travel to Rekawa directly after attending the Kandy Esala Perahera, “to witness, in its natural habitat, the remarkable process of sea turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs.”
A conservation model built on the community
Rekawa is now one of Sri Lanka’s most important turtle nesting grounds and one of its better-known eco-tourism destinations. The site draws several species of sea turtle, along with researchers and nature tourists.
The model is notable for what it replaced. Turning nest protection into paid local work gave the village an economic stake in the turtles surviving — the reason the project is cited internationally as a community-based conservation case study rather than a fenced-off reserve.
The approach contrasts with the friction seen elsewhere in the country’s protected areas this week, including an assault on wildlife officers at Riverston that left three injured, and continuing pressure on wildlife from the drought, with animals crowding shrinking waterholes in Yala.
What was not reported
NewsFirst did not name the award recipients, say how many people were honoured, or give figures for nests protected or hatchlings released over the 30 years. It did not identify which turtle species nest at Rekawa, name the project’s funders or partner agencies, or report whether any government officials attended. No other verified newsroom had covered the anniversary at the time of writing.
