Sea turtle and Coastal Resource Conservation in Ghana;

The coastal beaches of Ghana and the five coastal Ramser sites are noted for their diverse ecosystem goods and services it provides. These coastal sites are home for marine turtles and other migratory/ wintering wildlife species like aquatic birds species like waders, terns and herons/egrets). The coasts have stretches of sandy beach, which supports the nesting activities of species of marine turtles namely the Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and the Olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea). All species of sea turtles that use Ghana’s beaches as nesting sites are recognized on the IUCN species list as either endangered or threatened.

Almost all the coastal beaches and marine ecosystems in Ghana are threatened by different anthropogenic activities (over-exploitation of turtles and their eggs for food and sale, over-exploitation of mangroves as firewood for fish smoking, plastic pollution, sand-mining etc). Our project aims at stakeholder collective action for the successful protection and management of marine ecosystems and their associated creatures at Muni Pomadze Ramser Site and other coastal communities in Ghana.