DURHAM, N.C. – A comprehensive map of green turtle nesting sites worldwide, created by Andrew DiMatteo, associate in research at Duke University’s Marine Geospatial Ecology Laboratory and cartographer and database manager for the State of the World’s Sea Turtles (SWOT) Project, has won the grand prize in the 2011 International Conservation Mapping Competition.

The map, which took seven years to create and involved hundreds of volunteers, provides an up-to-date global snapshot of the nesting sites of the endangered green turtle, which has the broadest nesting distribution of all sea turtle species. It identifies 1,167 nesting sites, culled from more than 200 data contributors and published sources worldwide.

“It’s an honor to be recognized for our work and it’s my hope that this achievement will help draw more attention to the needs of sea turtle conservation,” DiMatteo said.

The International Conservation Mapping Competition is a partnership between Esri, a geographic information systems (GIS) software developer; the Society for Conservation; and Conservation Magazine. This year’s award winning maps were announced in the June issue of the magazine.  They were selected for their visual aesthetic and the impact they can provide communities to drive conservation.

The data for DiMatteo’s map were collected in challenging field conditions by various means, including by airplane, horseback, boat, and on foot. Hundreds of individuals and organizations from over 100 countries voluntarily contributed the data.

The map – which was published in the recently released “SWOT Report – The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, Vol. 6.” – shows the prolific nature of green turtle nesting habits on global and regional scales allowing for multiple views of the current status of specific populations. Raine Island, Australia; Tortuguero, Costa Rica; and Poilão, Guinea-Bissau, were found to be among the top nesting beaches for the species.

“The map is a shining example of what can be accomplished when trust and strong data-sharing protocols are combined to create a useful, informative, and effective product,” said Charles Convis, the Esri Conservation Program Coordinator. “The SWOT Worldwide Green Turtle Nesting Sites map allows scientists from around the world to contribute findings and collaborate for a solution.”

The green sea turtle nesting map is the final global map in a series that documents the nesting sites and abundances of each sea turtle species, which was created through the seven-year SWOT collaboration of more than 550 partners – coordinated by Conservation International (CI), the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG), and Duke University.

“None of this would have been possible without our ‘SWOT team’ of data providers around the world in collaboration with our partners from Duke, CI, and the MTSG ,” DiMatteo added.

“Visualizing knowledge on green turtle nesting grounds around the world has increased international cooperation and exchange of knowledge about this endangered species,” said Maggie Muurmans, director of the local nonprofit Yayasan Pulau Banyak in Aceh, Indonesia,  and data contributor to SWOT. “This allows information from hundreds of conservation projects to be readily available to individual sea turtle conservationists around the world.

“We are finally observing a change in human attitudes towards these incredible animals” said Bryan Wallace, scientific director of CI’s Marine Flagship Species Program.  “Where once they were primarily valued as a resource to be exploited, they are now earning their due respect as ecosystem engineers and indicators of ocean health and processes.”

The SWOT VI Report, including the map of worldwide green turtle nesting sites and information on the nesting and habits of the other six species of sea turtles, is available online at www.seaturtlestatus.org. The entire interactive SWOT database is accessible at the OBIS-SEAMAP website at http://seamap.env.duke.edu/swot.

Founded in 1987, Conservation International has headquarters in the Washington, D.C., area, and nearly 900 employees working in more than 30 countries on four continents, plus more than 1,000 partners around the world.

The Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab is part of Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment.  You can learn more about the lab at http://mgel.env.duke.edu.

Available content for media 

Photos are available for download here: http://ow.ly/5c1AH  

Learn more at:http://www.conservation.org/about/centers_programs/sea_turtles/Pages/seaturtles.aspx