Fifty years ago, green sea turtles were being harvested almost everywhere they existed.
They were hunted for their meat. Their eggs were dug from beaches by the basketful. Their shells were used for jewellery. Products made from green turtles were openly sold in markets worldwide. The species had been decimated by centuries of exploitation, and in the latter half of the 20th century, the situation was critical.
In October 2025, the International Union for Conservation of Nature published a new assessment: the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) has been reclassified from 'Endangered' to 'Least Concern.'
The global population has increased by approximately 28% since the 1970s. It is one of the most significant conservation status improvements ever recorded for a long-lived marine vertebrate.
What changed? Everything — applied methodically, over decades.
Beaches where nesting females once faced immediate danger were transformed into protected sanctuaries. Communities that had historically harvested turtles were brought into conservation programmes, given alternative livelihoods, and — crucially — given ownership over the recovery. International trade in turtle products was severely restricted under CITES Appendix I. Fishing fleets were required to use Turtle Excluder Devices, specially designed exits in fishing nets that allow turtles to escape. In the United States, the Endangered Species Act made harming green turtles a federal offence.
None of it happened overnight. None of it was without conflict. But it worked.
In Mexico, nesting numbers at key sites have increased dramatically. In Hawaii, populations have rebounded significantly. In Brazil, major nesting beaches now host tens of thousands of nests per year, compared to just hundreds in the 1970s.
The IUCN is careful to note that the picture is not uniformly bright. Some regional populations — in the Central South Pacific, parts of the East Pacific, the North Indian Ocean — remain threatened. Climate change poses ongoing risks to nesting beaches as sea levels rise and sand temperatures increase. Plastic pollution continues to kill individuals. The work is not done.
But the global trend has reversed. A species that was being eaten into oblivion has been pulled back. Not through some dramatic gesture, but through thousands of people in hundreds of countries deciding, over fifty years, to do something about it.
This is what patient conservation looks like when it works. 🐢