International Agreement for the Conservation of Caribbean Sea Turtles Set to be Signed by the Presidents of Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua

Spanish version of the Tri-Partite Agreement and English version of the Tri-Partite Agreement (Note: the English version is a preliminary and unofficial translation of the document.)

A new cooperative agreement that will promote regional collaboration for the conservation of sea turtles in the western Caribbean nations of Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama is set for signing by the presidents of the three nations on May 8, 1998. The signing ceremony will take place during the inauguration ceremonies for Costa Rica s newly elected president, Miguel Angel Rodríguez.

During the past four years, the Florida-based nonprofit Caribbean Conservation Corporation (CCC), in consultation with the Mesoamerican Environmental Law Program (MELP) at the University of Florida, Central American government officials, legal advisors, indigenous peoples and sea turtle specialists, developed and promoted a model agreement for the regional management of Caribbean sea turtles. Since December 1997, CCC and MELP, with assistance from the Wildlife Conservation Society and funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, provided technical and financial assistance to the three governments to facilitate the negotiation process. The negotiations reached a successful conclusion recently in Panama, and the final agreement was forwarded to the presidents of each country for signing.

"This is a fantastic achievement for the protection of sea turtles in the Western Hemisphere," said CCC Executive Director David Godfrey. "The agreement will set a new standard for international cooperation in the protection of endangered wildlife, and CCC is honored to have played a role in its development."

Sea turtles are highly migratory and move many hundreds of miles between nesting and feeding areas. Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama possess some of the most important marine and nesting habitats for sea turtles in the world and share populations of green turtles, leatherbacks and hawksbills. For the Caribbean green turtle (Chelonia mydas), Nicaragua s Miskito Cays provide the feeding grounds; Panama s coast provides courtship areas, developmental habitats and a migration corridor; and Costa Rica's Tortuguero beach hosts the largest green turtle nesting colony in the hemisphere.

Green turtles have been heavily exploited for their meat and eggs for hundreds of years. The impact of this systematic harvest in combination with newer threats such as incidental capture in commercial fishing nets and trawls, marine pollution, and the loss of nesting habitat to coastal development, has resulted in the reduction of the numbers of Caribbean green turtles by as much as 99% since the time of Columbus, according to some researchers. Even so, today there are indigenous groups and other coastal dwellers that still rely on green turtles for food. But turtle numbers are dwindling while the coastal community human populations are increasing, and the potential for people s future reliance on the green turtle resource for protein is in jeopardy.

The need for cooperative management of the Caribbean sea turtles between the three nations has been recognized for more than 30 years. CCC s first technical director and renowned sea turtle specialist Dr. Archie Carr, and his Costa Rican colleague Guillermo Billy Cruz, helped convince natural resource management and fishery officials from the three countries to sign a tri-national agreement for the protection of sea turtles in 1969. But the process broke down before the agreement could be ratified when Nicaragua acquired funding for the construction of three processing plants to prepare green turtle meat for export. Legal export of sea turtles and their derivatives ceased in 1975, but current harvest levels for subsistence use now rival those from the days when green turtles supplied a global market with meat and soup. The need for international cooperation in sea turtle management is still required, as there would be little incentive for one nation to protect turtles that are then harvested without restraint after they migrate across borders.

The new cooperative agreement requires the Parties to work together to protect sea turtle habitats -- marine habitats as well as nesting beaches -- and to develop and execute a Regional Management Plan to provide guidelines and criteria for a tri-national protected area system for the turtles. This will effectively establish a coastal and marine biological corridor or blueway in the western Caribbean for sea turtles.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the new agreement, says Cindy Taft, Director of International Programs and coordinator of the tri-national initiative for CCC, is that it will establish a means whereby all stakeholders in the shared sea turtle resource -- user groups and conservationists alike -- will have a voice in the decision-making process for sea turtle management.

Related to the International Agreement for the Conservation of Caribbean Sea Turtles (Tripartite Agreement) is the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles which promotes regional accords such as the Tripartite Agreement. The Inter-American Agreement is the only international treaty AT A HEMISPHERIC LEVEL dedicated exclusively to sea turtles, and as such has been vigorously supported by many members of the sea turtle community, particularly specialists from Latin America.

Summary of the Major Components of the International Agreement for the Conservation of Caribbean Sea T.urtles, which is set to be signed by the Presidents of Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama:

The Sea Turtle Conservation Advisory Committee: This nine-member committee of governmental officials, non-governmental organizations, representatives of the private sector, local people, and scientists implements and enforces many of the Agreement’s provisions, ie., prepares a regional management plan to conserve populations of sea turtles shared by Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama, and reviews petitions for exemptions from the Agreement’s prohibitions. Decisions will be based on the best scientific information and knowledge of the needs of the communities. Articles VII and VIII.

Habitat Conservation Obligations: Parties will identifiy and list in an Annex protected nesting beaches and marine habitats and will develop protected area management plans that are consistent with regional objectives for a regional system of protected areas based on the life histories of the sea turtles covered by the agreement. Article IV.

Regional Management Plan: Through the Sea Turtle Conservation Advisory Committee, Parties will develop a regional management plan to provide guidelines and criteria for the regional protected area system, and research and monitoring at the regional level. The plan must be produced with public participation and will serve as the basis for individual protected area management plans within the regional system. Article V.

General Prohibitions: General Provisions will apply in terrestrial and marine habitats not designated as protected habitat. These include prohibitions against intentional capture of sea turtles, including collecting eggs; trade; and harm to sea turtle habitat. In order to maintain its focus on habitat protection, the agreement defers to the Inter-American Convention and CITES with respect to issues concerning turtle excluder devices (TEDs) and international trade. Article VI.

Provisions for Subsistence Use: The Agreement permits the sustainable use of sea turtles for subsistence purposes, but ensures that the petitioner for an exception provides the Committee with sufficient information to determine whether the use is likely to be sustainable, ie, a petitioner must provide, among other things, population surveys and a conservation impact assessment. The Agreement also recognizes that local people may not be able to afford these surveys and assessments. In these situations, the Parties are required to fund the surveys. Article IX.

Research and Monitoring: The Parties also must conduct or fund research essential to better understanding of the migrations of sea turtles and the factors which influence their survival. The Parties specifically must conduct or fund DNA testing to help identify the nesting beaches of adult sea turtles caught at sea. The Parties also must monitor sea turtle mortality and nesting activities. In addition, through the Committee the Parties are required to develop standardized monitoring protocols at the regional level. Articles XI and XII.

Enforcement: The Agreement requires the Parties to cooperate in enforcing the Agreement. For example, the Committee may inspect nesting beaches for compliance with the Agreement’s provisions. If it determines that violations are occurring at the nesting beach, it can assign observers to protect the beach. The Agreement makes clear that citizens have the right to enforce the provisions of this Agreement. Article XI.

International Cooperation and Coordination: The Agreement enables other countries to become Parties. In addition, the Agreement requires Parties to the Agreement to provide notice to the other Parties prior to undertaking activities that may affect the conservation status of sea turtles within the geographic scope of the Agreement. Article X.

Other Provisions: The Agreement also provides for annual reporting and establishes a fund to ensure its implementation. Articles XIII and XIV.

The initial draft was prepared by the Ad Hoc Drafting Committee which includes Mario Boza (Wildlife Conservation Society), Lizbeth Espinoza (CEDARENA), Chris Wold (Center for International Environmental Law), Dr. Thomas T. Ankersen (University of Florida College of Law), Dr. Anne Meylan (State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection), Dr. Peter Meylan (Eckerd University), and Lucinda K. Taft (Caribbean Conservation Corporation).

For more information, please contact Cindy Taft, Director of International Programs, at (352) 373-6441 or e-mail him at stsl@cccturtle.org.