Economic Value of Sea Turtles

and the Environment and as a

catalyst for Developing
Sustainable Communities:
By Dr. Allan Bachan
CONTEX
The rural costal communities are one of the
most poorest in Trinidad and Tobago; 42.1 per
cent of the population in the North East was
deemed poor.
Overall unemployment in the region stands at
28.6% more than 20% above the national
average.
(Source IADB 2011)

SUSTAI NABLE
DEVELOPMENT MODEL
The basis of the Model centers
around an understanding of the
complex ecological system web and
causal chain analysis
Why Sea Turtles:
TVT has chosen sea turtles as their product
and the focus of their conservation efforts
in part because these ancient creatures are
among the most important indicators of the
health of the worlds marine and coastal
ecosystems.
TVT believes that whether sea turtles
ultimately vanish from the planet or whether
they remain a wild and thriving part of the
natural world, will speak volumes about both
the general health of the planet and the
ability of humans to sustainably coexist
with the diversity of life on Earth.
To pr ot ec t t he Nat ur al
Envi r onment . Why?
The PRODUCT is central to achieving our
conservation Vision and supporting the eco
Tourism and Agro tourism Agenda.
Has the capacity to develop livelihoods
Contribute to GDP
Supports the Diversification of the economy
Stimulate the Economy
Empower community
Why Tourism?
The tourism sector in the
Wider Caribbean Region
makes the greatest use of
the coastal and marine
resources and as a result
not only do the benefits of
tourism impact on the entire
economy, but also the
ecosystem linkages which
affect other resources.
Understanding that conditions and incentives
for effective conservation by local communities
need to be created and
Biodiversity conservation cannot be successful
unless local communities receive their fair
share of benefits from and assume a greater
role in managing local biological resources.
Also understanding that the human capacity for
conserving and sustainable use of biodiversity
must be greatly strengthened since
conservation can only succeed if people
understand the distribution and value of
biodiversity, understand how it influences their
own lives and aspirations, and learn to manage
areas to meet human needs without
diminishing biological diversity.
Tourism needs to become
a support for
Conservation,
In order to have a
product to sell.
Conservation has to
become a support for
Tourism,
not a stick that is
constantly beating it.
Conservation and ecotourism can only
succeed if they have the support of the
people most closely involved
the communities in and around
the conservation areas.
All three pillars - social, economic and
environmental - are mutually supportive and all
three are essential the facilitate sustainable
development
Our focus must be people and their
needs.
Hence livelihood development must
be a priority
STRATEGI C PLANNI NG
FRAMEWORK
The goal of Linking
Communities, Tourism,
Conservation and Sustainable
Development through
partnerships
T ur t l e Vi l l age Tr us t Mo del : The goal of Linking Communities, Tourism, Cons ervation
and Sus tainable Community Development (ada pte d f rom Bac han 2002)






























Sustainable Turtle
Village Community
Deve lopmen t

OUTP UT 1
Turtl e C onser vat ion
Enviro nment Conserv at ion
OUTP UT 2
Prot ect Ha bita t
Reduce Mo r tal ity
THE P ROD UC T

SEA TUR TLES
&
ENV IR ONMEN T
Sus t ai nab le
Co ns er v at io n
Pri nc i pl es & Pr ac t ic e
Tu rt le
V illag e
Tru st
Ec o- To u ri sm
Pri n ci p les
E CON OMI C
DR IV ER S

ECO TOUR ISM
A GROTOU RI SM
Pro tectio n o f Pr oduct

Sus tai nabl e
Co nserv ati on
Pro gra mm es
OUTPUT 3

J ob creati on
R evenue g enera tio n
Sm al l busi ness devel opm ent
C apa city Bui ldi ng
C om muni ty Empo werme nt
Balancing development and
conservation of National resources
Making the process of sustainable integrated regional
planning for the northeast region happen:
This modality of application of Turtle Village Trust structure has resulted in significant
transformational development and increase in the implementation rate of the public
sector investment
infrastructure and services through new management systems and business processes such
as establishing new processes of accountable and transparent finance and funding
Enhancing the contribution to sustainable development through a greater integration of
economic, environmental and social dimensions.
Conducting operations with better understanding (by all) of roles and responsibilities and
finding ways to work efficiently, in consultation with others, to improve decision-making
processes.
To improve the social dimension of our business in order to broaden the benefits of wealth
creation and thereby contribute to the alleviation of poverty.
adding value for money through performance of budgeting mechanisms and to support and
benefit community development and integrated citizen participation.
Focus on the hard and soft quality service delivery of balanced sustained development of the
northeast region
The Grande Riviere Case
The story starts with these guys
Tr i ni dad and Tobago Sea Tur t l e
Popul at i on Assessment , Dat a
Management , Taggi ng
Pr ogr amme
FOCUS
Research and Monitoring
Tag animals and collect scientific data (Research)
Protect Habitat
Reduce Mortality
PROGRAMMES
Beach Patrols
Advocacy for Protected Areas
Sea Tur t l es Ec onomi c al l y
I mpor t ant
Valuation can highlight:
Significant contribution to GDP
Taxes paid to government
J obs and wages dependent on sea turtles
Value of social safety net
Supports:
Coastal Planning (shoreline protection
analysis)
Evaluation of trade-offs
Let us now assess the economic
benefits to the community of sea
turtles, their conservation and the
protection of the environment.
Let us also understand the direct and
indirect linkages that exist
Using a case study, involving turtle-based ecotourism,
we explore the role of ecotourism in promoting environmental
learning and in sustaining conservation of nature.
VISITORS TO GRANDE RIVERE
The inflow of visitors
(foreign & local) to
Grande Riviere,
expanded from 6,507
in 2005 to 21,000 in
2011: (300%)
Category Visitorship
2011
International Direct
(Visitors from
abroad that come
only for turtle
tours)
4000
International 7000
Local 10000
Total Visitorship 21000
REVENUE RECEIVED BY
GOVERNMENT 2011
Category Visitorship
Total Visitorship 21000
Government Revenue (Sale
of Permits @ $5 / Permit)
$105,000
TOUR GUIDING
Tour Operators mainly from outside the
community The approximate revenue being
generated from Tours in Grand Rivere
$660,000.
Community Turtle Tour Guides/ Data Colectors
especially from the community derive livelihoods
during turtle Season. There is also employment
for some 32 persons from within the community.
Fees are fixed by Forestry Division.
HOTELS/ GUEST HOUSES
The most important revenue earner in the
community is accommodation.
The value of sea turtles at Grand Rivere can be
seen by the investment in accommodations in
this community.
Ten years ago there was one major hotel and a
couple of guest houses. Today there exists 5
small resorts and 12 Guesthouses with a total of
150 rooms.
There now also exist 4 small food
establishments.
The hotels and guesthouses employ 92 persons
during the season.
The total average revenue for the season for
guesthouses, hotels, shops, food
establishments, bars is TT$31,120,000.
Based on limited beach coverage per night by
using various probability theories, the nesting
population can be approximated to 10,220
females for 2011.
It is understood that some of this revenues
would be generated for neighboring villages
such as Toco and Matelot as visitors would
spend some time in these villages due to their
proximity.
AGRICULTURE
Ten years ago in this community the agricultural sector had
declined and was deemed to be non existent owing to a lack of
available ready markets for farmers goods (Sangre Grande and
Port of Spain) and the distance and costs to access the
existing markets made this venture non profitable.
Owing to the development of Turtle watching in Trinidad over
the last 5 years transitional farming has increased and
continues to grow. Over the last two years growth has been
over 35%.
This has been due to the synergy between the farming
community and the hotels and guesthouses. There now exist
ready markets for crops as these establishments currently
purchase all crops so as to service the needs of the visitors as
well as the development of niche markets such as organic
farming.
The sector currently employs around 70 farmers.
Transportation
The transportation system in the area is very
weak in term of serving the needs of the locals.
However with the increase of visitors to the area
this has created a demand for tourist mobility.
Thus an additional opportunity for community
residents & groups to provide services to their
benefit continues to be created. There now
exists 1 taxi service
Employment
The resident population is 365 (295
adult and 70 children approximate)
making up 153 families. Approximately
80% of the villagers are employed in
ecotourism activities directly or indirectly
during the tourist season, servicing the
annual local and international visitor
The economic value of a sea turtle
Approximately $TT6, 000.00
These photographs
tell a story
I invite you to be part of the process of
sustainable development of our communities
The best way to predict the future...is to create it ...
THANK YOU
" For in the end we will conserve only
what we love. We will love only what
we understand. We will understand
only what we are taught." - Baba Dion
Questions