WildAid Working to End Sea Turtle Trade in China #WATWB

In Puerto Lopez, Ecuador, we are blessed. Four of the seven sea turtle species in the world live and breed here. The four species that live here are endangered (I wrote about them here) so breeding is critical.

Machalilla National Park works to increase the sea turtle population through research, education and a sea turtle rehabilitation center. This week, they hosted Meagan Brosnan of WildAid. She praised local efforts to increase sea turtle populations.

While Machalilla National Park is helping sea turtles locally, WildAid is helping those in Asia. Check out their new campaign to end the sea turtle trade in China. Excerpts from the article:

In a new effort to protect increasingly endangered sea turtles, WildAid launched a new campaign to reduce demand for sea turtle products in China.

WildAid released a new series of TV messages and billboards featuring popular actor Liu Ye and his wife Anais Martane to raise awareness about the threats while calling on the public to stop buying sea turtle products.  Speaking at the launch event this week, Liu Ye said “we can all do something really simple to help protect sea turtles, and that is simply not buying sea turtle products. We should all also reduce our use of plastics, and keep plastic waste away from coastlines.”

A WildAid survey of 1,500 people in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beihai, and Sanya found that 17% of respondents have purchased sea turtle products in the past, and 22% expressed interest in purchasing the products in the future.Consumer awareness is necessary, as evidenced by a survey:

Nearly half of consumers bought the products as souvenirs, with 69% of purchases taking place at domestic souvenir shops, the majority upon recommendation by their tour group guide. Only 57% of respondents knew that it was illegal to purchase sea turtle products in China.

Thank you to WildAid for helping raise awareness for these beautiful creatures!

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It is the last Friday of the month, when participants in We Are The World Blogfest bring you positive stories from around the world. Thank you to this month’s co-hosts: Peter Nena, Inderpreet Kaur Uppal, Shilpa Garg, Roshan Radhakrishnan, Sylvia McGrath and Belinda Witzenhausen. Please visit their pages for more positive stories.

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Want to read more positive stories from around the world? Click here to find a list of blogs participating in the We are the World Blogfest or search for #WATWB on social media.

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