Looking at tiny turtles, so small that they can be held between two fingers, people become truly delighted. Watching these hatchlings make their way to their natural habitat, towards the Amazon rivers, is even more fascinating. So much so that the release of chelonians, the most suitable technical term to refer to the species, have turned into a tourist attraction, including for children.

The release is part of the preservation process for several species of chelonians, such as the Amazon turtles (Podocnemis expansa), the tracajás (P. unifilis) and the iaçás (P. sextuberculata). Due to the risk of extinction faced by these animals, projects in various parts of the Amazon region aim at transporting the nests from where they are originally placed into safer areas from natural predators and human action. Protected until the eggs hatch, the chicks are kept as late as they are ready to be released into the wild and continue their journey.

According to Júlia Barbosa, an environmental analyst at the Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio) [Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation] in the Amazon, the exploitation of chelonians has a long history worldwide, due to their importance for food, economics and culture. Predatory hunting and illegal trade and consumption, combined with pollution and loss of habitats represent major threats to the preservation of these animals. For this reason, on April 23rd, the World Turtle Day was celebrated, an event promoted annually by the American Tortoise Rescue as a way to raise awareness in society about required actions to protect chelonians.

LEGISLATION

In Brazil, there are several laws governing he protection of these species. Júlia Barbosa mentions the 1967 Wildlife Protection Act, which prohibits the capture of wild animals; and the Environmental Crimes Act, which also prohibits the hunting, trade, slaughter and consumption of wild animals, including chelonians. There are also state laws that deal with the issue and a joint ordinance between ICMBio and the Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (Ibama) [Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources], that established the Plano de Ação Nacional para Conservação dos Quelônios Amazônicos (PAN Quelônios Amazônicos) [National Action Plan for the Conservation of Amazonian Chelonians], which, in turn, promotes the management and conservation of freshwater chelonians that occur in the Legal Amazon and in the Araguaia River basin in Goiás.

According to the environmental analyst, chelonian’s meat is highly valued in the Amazon region, a favorable condition for the illegal capture and sale of both adult animals and their eggs.

Diogo Lima, coordinator of Programa de Manejo da Fauna [Wildlife Management Program] at the social organization Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá [Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development] in the state of Amazonas, affirms that there is a history of predatory exploitation of turtles in the Amazon. “Nowadays, due to conservation projects, this has decreased, but over the years, this exploitation has evolved without criteria, in which adult and juvenile individuals and eggs were captured for meat consumption, for energy production by means of eggs fat or for consumption of the eggs themselves. So, we had a scenario in which several species were threatened with extinction, because both reproductive adults and their eggs were being consumed. As a result, these species faced difficulty maintaining environmental balance,” he explains.

According to Diogo Lima, consumption was initially carried out only by traditional populations, but over time it reached commercial scale pressured by external demands. Currently, only these populations are allowed consume chelonians for subsistence by law. “Traditional communities, based on the National Policy for Traditional Peoples and Communities, and even by the wildlife law itself, are protected regarding this consumption. Therefore, traditional populations, who historically use natural resources from their territories, can consume chelonians as food, but there can be no commercialization. There is also the possibility of breeding in captivity and community management, based on community conservation systems”, explains the coordinator.

Public participation is essential for the dynamics

A conservation project in the state of Amazonas, the result of a partnership between the Mamirauá Institute, ICMBio and the Amazonas State University (UEA), has invested in the conservation of turtles in the region of the middle course of the Solimões River, in the Tefé National Forest (Flona Tefé) and in the Baixo Juruá Extractive Reserve (Resex). In this action, community participation is essential.

Since 2009, the communities of the Tefé Flona have been organizing themselves to protect chelonian nests, monitoring beaches and translocating the eggs to safer areas. From 2023 on, the Mamirauá Institute, ICMBio and UEA started to collaborate with the initiative, providing technical, organizational and scientific support. However, the actions are community-based.

“When it comes to conservation tools, the participation of the people who have historically used this resource is what makes the project viable. These populations have knowledge about the species’ breeding sites and the level of exploitation that exists in the region, especially because they use this resource for subsistence. Therefore, projects need to not only consider these populations, but also include them in the development of the project itself. For decades, these populations have been working together with advisory institutions and monitoring agencies to develop ways to reconcile the cultural use of chelonians with the maintenance of these species in balance with nature,” affirms Diogo Lima.

ALTERNATIVES

That being said, we may argue there is a sharing of both traditional and scientific knowledge, which involves, for example, training for good management practices. According to Júlia Barbosa, the chelonians preservation project in conservation units in the Amazon started with a demand from the community members themselves. “In my opinion, this is the main factor in the process of resuming actions, as they are the protagonists of this story. In this context, the main purpose of the program is to seek alternatives for the communities to gain more and more autonomy and organization to carry out activities with the chelonians”, highlights the environmental analyst.

Jucelino Costa, a resident of Ponta da Castanha, in the Tefé National Forest, is one of the riverside dwellers who has been involved in preservation actions since 2009, together with other members of the community.

“Since I was a boy, I watched my mother take the hatchlings out of the sand. Then I started asking the environmental agents if we could do something to hatch these eggs and put them back in the river. I eventually started this work, with the incubators. After 60 or 90 days, we released them into the river, without any technical knowledge. Later, ICMBio started to monitor and help with expenses, because the trips to do this are expensive. We also received donations of tanks,” says Costa.

Jucelino Costa says he is concerned about conservation. “If we don’t do this, it will get harder every year, because there are predators, the trade is intense and the turtles are likely to disappear. I always say that we have to take care of them while there are seeds, because if the seeds are over, there is no way to get the seedlings. When I was young, I used to see a lot of turtles. But today there are children here who have never seen them. That’s why we never let the project end,” he assures.

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

According to Diogo Lima, turtle conservation projects are essential for environmental education, especially for younger generations. “These projects have changed the perspective of some residents. Some people already knew about the importance of maintaining a sustainable level of consumption of these animals, but others took time to understand that these systems do not mean prohibition, but regulation,” he points out.

“Concerning younger generations, the projects generally involve children and teenagers in moments, for example, when releasing the baby turtles, which brings people closer. People who, often, did not have the same interaction with these species as their parents did, due to the decrease in turtle populations in the wild. Their participation is essential, because they are the ones who will maintain these projects in the future,” he points out.

The goal is to generate income for the communities

The coordinator of the Mamirauá Institute emphasizes that one of the institution's concerns is  the viability of maintaining the projects in the long term. “Our work also aims to see how these community systems can generate income, not only to maintain the projects, but also as an alternative source of income for traditional communities. And this has happened mainly through tourism initiatives, especially in the Tefé National Forest,” says Lima.

“These communities have started tourism systems focused on the events of releasing baby turtles and demonstrations of community conservation activities. This income can help cover conservation costs, but also allow for productive diversification for these communities,” Lima emphasizes.

TOURISM

Jeferson Pimentel, from the agency NheengaTour, which promotes activities in the Tefé National Forest, explains that it is the community itself that promotes the actions, with community-based tourism. “They are responsible to organize everything for the tourists: breakfast, lunch, the trail. The agency’s role is to provide guidance and publicize the event,” he says.

The activities involve participation in the release of turtles, with explanations from lecturers about the turtle species and their preservation, but they also include other experiences: a regional breakfast, with products from the Amazon; a trail that shows how latex is extracted from rubber trees; a tasting of locally produced honey; and a typical riverside people lunch.
“Ecotourism can benefit communities in several ways: not only by generating income, but also by showing their history, culture, and customs. This way, people come to value and understand the Amazon,” says Pimentel.

CONSERVATION

In Pará, the Instituto de Desenvolvimento Florestal e da Biodiversidade do Pará (Ideflor-Bio) [Pará Institute for Forestry and Biodiversity Development] is responsible for the State's Chelonians’ Conservation Program, which is currently undergoing implementation. The Institute is carrying out conservation activities in isolated projects in some of the state's conservation units: in the Serra das Andorinhas State Park, in the Araguaia region, and in the Tabuleiro do Embaubal Wildlife Refuge, in the Xingu region, with freshwater turtles. In Salvaterra and Salinópolis, the actions involve sea turtles.

Priscila Fonseca, president of the Conservation Program, points out that the projects are carried out in partnership with other institutions and, as in Amazonas, with the primary participation of the community. “They are the ones who are inserted in the habitat of these animals, who are constantly in contact and, therefore, help with monitoring, so that we have real-time information about spawnings,” she says.

The environmental management technician informs that the Conservation Program aims to reach as many locations as possible to protect chelonians, whether within conservation units managed by the Institute or in other locations. “Turtle species are essential to the environment because they are seed dispersers. So, the Program comes with this grand perspective of preserving these species throughout the state of Pará. And, during the project implementation, our goal is to always have the community involved in the actions”, she concludes.

INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERSHIP
The production of Liberal Amazon is one of the initiatives of the Technical Cooperation Agreement between the Liberal Group and the Federal University of Pará. The articles involving research from UFPA are revised by professionals from the academy. The translation of the content is also provided by the agreement, through the research project ET-Multi: Translation Studies: multifaces and multisemiotics.