Economic Value of Sea Turtles and the Environment and as a

catalyst for Developing Sustainable Communities:

By Dr. Allan Bachan

CONTEX

The rural costal communities are one of the most poorest in Trinidad and Tobago; “42.1 per cent of the population in the North East was deemed poor.”

Overall unemployment in the region stands at 28.6% more than 20% above the national average.

(Source IADB 2011)

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MODEL The basis of the Model centers

around an understanding of the complex ecological system web and causal chain analysis

Why Sea Turtles:

• TVT has chosen sea turtles as their productand the focus of their conservation effortsin part because these ancient creatures are among the most important indicators of the health of the world’s marine and coastal ecosystems.

• TVT believes that whether sea turtles ultimately vanish from the planet or whether they remain a wild and thriving part of the natural world, will speak volumes about both the general health of the planet and the ability of humans to sustainably coexistwith the diversity of life on Earth.

To protect the Natural Environment. Why?

The “PRODUCT” is central to achieving our conservation Vision and supporting the eco Tourism and Agro tourism Agenda.

Has the capacity to develop livelihoods Contribute to GDP Supports the Diversification of the economy Stimulate the Economy Empower community

Why Tourism?

• The tourism sector in the Wider Caribbean Region makes the greatest use of the coastal and marine resources and as a result not only do the benefits of tourism impact on the entire economy, but also the ecosystem linkages which affect other resources.

Understanding that conditions and incentives for effective conservation by local communities need to be created and

Biodiversity conservation cannot be successful unless local communities receive their fair share of benefits from and assume a greater role in managing local biological resources.

Also understanding that the human capacity for conserving and sustainable use of biodiversity must be greatly strengthened since conservation can only succeed if people understand the distribution and value of biodiversity, understand how it influences their own lives and aspirations, and learn to manage areas to meet human needs without diminishing biological diversity.

Tourism needs to become a support for Conservation,

In order to have a product to sell.

Conservation has to become a support for

Tourism, not a stick that is

constantly beating it.

Conservation and ecotourism can onlysucceed if they have the support of the people most closely involved –the communities in and around the conservation areas.

All three pillars - social, economic and environmental - are mutually supportive and all three are essential the facilitate sustainable development

Our focus must be people and their needs.Hence livelihood development must be a priority

STRATEGIC PLANNING FRAMEWORK

The goal of Linking Communities, Tourism, Conservation and Sustainable Development through partnerships

T urtle V i lla ge Trus t M o de l : The goal of L inking Comm unities, T ourism , Cons ervation and Sus ta inable Com m unity D evelopm ent (ada pte d from Bac han 2002)

S ustainab le “Turtle V illage” C om m unity D eve lopm en t

OU TP UT 1 Tur tl e C onser vat ion Env iro nment Conservat ion

OU TP UT 2 Protect H a b ita t Red uce M o r tal ity

T H E P RO D UC T

SE A T UR T L E S &

E NV IR O NM E N T

S usta inab le Co nser vatio n P rinciples & P r actice

Tu rt le V illag e Tru st

E co- To u rism P rin cip les

E CO N O M I C DR IV E R S

E CO T O UR ISM

A G RO T O U RI SM

Pro tectio n o f Pr odu ct

Su s tai nab l e Co nserv ati on Pro gra mm es

OU T PU T 3 J ob creati on R evenu e g enera tio n Sm al l busi n ess devel opm ent C ap a city B u i ld i ng C om mu ni ty E mpo werme nt

Balancing development and conservation of National resources

Making the process of sustainable integrated regional planning for the northeast region happen:

This modality of application of Turtle Village Trust structure has resulted in significant transformational development and increase in the implementation rate of the public sector investment

• infrastructure and services through new management systems and business processes such as establishing new processes of accountable and transparent finance and funding

• Enhancing the contribution to sustainable development through a greater integration of economic, environmental and social dimensions.

• Conducting operations with better understanding (by all) of roles and responsibilities and finding ways to work efficiently, in consultation with others, to improve decision-making processes.

• To improve the social dimension of our business in order to broaden the benefits of wealth creation and thereby contribute to the alleviation of poverty.

• adding value for money through performance of budgeting mechanisms and to support and benefit community development and integrated citizen participation.

• Focus on the hard and soft quality service delivery of balanced sustained development of the northeast region

The Grande Riviere Case

The story starts with these guys

Trinidad and Tobago Sea Turtle Population Assessment, Data

Management, Tagging Programme

FOCUS

Research and Monitoring Tag animals and collect scientific data (Research)

Protect Habitat Reduce Mortality

PROGRAMMES Beach Patrols Advocacy for Protected Areas

Sea Turtles – Economically Important

Valuation can highlight: Significant contribution to GDP Taxes paid to government Jobs and wages dependent on sea turtles Value of social safety net

Supports: Coastal Planning (shoreline protection

analysis) Evaluation of trade-offs

• Let us now assess the economic benefits to the community of sea turtles, their conservation and the protection of the environment.

• Let us also understand the direct and indirect linkages that exist

Using a case study, involving turtle-based ecotourism, we explore the role of ecotourism in promoting environmental learning and in sustaining conservation of nature.

VISITORS TO GRANDE RIVERE

• The inflow of visitors (foreign & local) to Grande Riviere, expanded from 6,507 in 2005 to 21,000 in 2011: (300%)

Category Visitorship2011

International Direct (Visitors from abroad that come only for turtle tours)

4000

International 7000

Local 10000

Total Visitorship 21000

REVENUE RECEIVED BY GOVERNMENT 2011

Category VisitorshipTotal Visitorship 21000Government Revenue (Sale

of Permits @ $5 / Permit)$105,000

TOUR GUIDING• Tour Operators mainly from outside the

community The approximate revenue being generated from Tours in Grand Rivere $660,000.

• Community Turtle Tour Guides/ Data Colectors especially from the community derive livelihoods during turtle Season. There is also employment for some 32 persons from within the community. Fees are fixed by Forestry Division.

HOTELS/ GUEST HOUSES• The most important revenue earner in the

community is accommodation.• The value of sea turtles at Grand Rivere can be

seen by the investment in accommodations in this community.

• Ten years ago there was one major hotel and a couple of guest houses. Today there exists 5 small resorts and 12 Guesthouses with a total of 150 rooms.

• There now also exist 4 small food establishments.

• The hotels and guesthouses employ 92 persons during the season.

• The total average revenue for the season for guesthouses, hotels, shops, food establishments, bars is TT$31,120,000.

• Based on limited beach coverage per night by using various probability theories, the nesting population can be approximated to 10,220 females for 2011.

• It is understood that some of this revenues would be generated for neighboring villages such as Toco and Matelot as visitors would spend some time in these villages due to their proximity.

AGRICULTURE• Ten years ago in this community the agricultural sector had

declined and was deemed to be non existent owing to a lack of available ready markets for farmers goods (Sangre Grande and Port of Spain) and the distance and costs to access the existing markets made this venture non profitable.

• Owing to the development of Turtle watching in Trinidad over the last 5 years transitional farming has increased and continues to grow. Over the last two years growth has been over 35%.

• This has been due to the synergy between the farming community and the hotels and guesthouses. There now exist ready markets for crops as these establishments currently purchase all crops so as to service the needs of the visitors as well as the development of niche markets such as organic farming.

• The sector currently employs around 70 farmers.

Transportation• The transportation system in the area is very

weak in term of serving the needs of the locals. • However with the increase of visitors to the area

this has created a demand for tourist mobility. Thus an additional opportunity for community residents & groups to provide services to their benefit continues to be created. There now exists 1 taxi service

Employment

• The resident population is 365 (295 adult and 70 children approximate) making up 153 families. Approximately 80% of the villagers are employed in ecotourism activities directly or indirectly during the tourist season, servicing the annual local and international visitor

The economic value of a sea turtle

• Approximately $TT6, 000.00

These photographs tell a story

I invite you to be part of the process of sustainable development of our communities

The best way to predict the future...is to create it ...

THANK YOU"For in the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught." - Baba Dion

Questions