Join Us in Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the MOU!

2021 is the year in which the IOSEA Marine Turtles MOU celebrates its twentieth anniversary – a reason to celebrate, reflect and make a special effort to support marine turtle conservation in the IOSEA region!

This special occasion will be used for a special effort to implement a number of activities foreseen in the Work Programme 2020-2024, including virtual meetings of the sub-regions, offering virtual capacity-building workshops, and organizing a big public-facing event around World Sea Turtle Day, which is celebrated in many countries on 16 June. We have chosen this day for a ‘global launch’ of virtual celebrations of the 20th Anniversary of the MOU, which the United States will host. This will be followed by a day-long series of online events taking place around the IOSEA region on Saturday, 19 June, so as to maximize the opportunities for public participation.

This ‘round-the-clock virtual event’ is organized by local hosts in collaboration with the Secretariat and will be streamed through a joint channel (details to follow), with events throughout the region ‘passing the baton’ to each other. We hope that this connected series of celebrations will help everyone in the IOSEA region loving turtles feel connected in our joint efforts to preserve them for future generations. In total, five ‘Global Events’ are planned to be hosted at different times by the sub-regions and the Secretariat, and eleven ‘Local Events’ are available for Signatory States to host.

Besides these ‘official’ WSTD@ IOSEA events, many more may be taking place in the IOSEA region, on the same or on different dates. Any organizers who wish to make their event part of the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the MOU are warmly invited to register their events through this link:

World Sea Turtle Day 2021 – Event Registration

All registered events will be displayed on the IOSEA website, giving easy access to the global sea turtle community. This allows you to inform a wide audience in advance about your plans, and make your local event, no matter when it takes place during the year, part of the region-wide celebration. 

Last updated on 19 May 2021