20 Years of Sea Turtle Conservation in the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia Region Celebrated in 20 Countries

Bonn, 25 June 2021 – Around World Sea Turtle Day, the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation and Management of Marine Turtles and their Habitats of the Indian Ocean and South-East Asia (IOSEA Marine Turtle MOU) celebrated its 20th Anniversary.

It is one of the regional agreements concluded under the auspices of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and its Secretariat is based in Bonn since 2017.

To date, the MOU has 35 Signatory States, thereby providing a platform for coordinated efforts to address the many pressures on the marine turtle populations in the region. The Indian Ocean and South-East Asia (IOSEA) region is home to six of the seven existing marine turtle species, all of which are listed on the CMS Appendices.

To mark the 20th Anniversary of the IOSEA Marine Turtle MOU on World Sea Turtle Day 16 and 19 June 2021, the IOSEA region celebrated both events and the fascinating world of marine turtles with programmes from 20 countries.

In the day-long series of online events taking place around the IOSEA region, which was live streamed on Saturday, 19 June 2021viewers are taken on a journey from one country to the next, learning about and from the communities, children, researchers and conservationists striving to protect marine turtles in those places.

Also, in a two-hour webinar hosted in Malaysia, the audience has the chance to delve into the history of sea turtle conservation in the IOSEA region and hear about the panellists’ hopes and visions for the next twenty years.

Both videos can be accessed on YouTube: http://bit.ly/seaturtle_livestream.

This ‘round-the-clock virtual event’ was organized by local hosts in collaboration with the CMS/IOSEA Secretariat and was streamed by Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT).