Credit: Gulf Times
The locals also collected turtle eggs and sold them for cash. The money earned went towards supporting and putting children through school and financing public expenses like installing a new water filtration system. However, after years of exploitation of sea turtles, the population of sea turtles was nearly eradicated in Runduma island. This became a cause of concern for the Runduma community and they later collaborated with WWF-Indonesia and Nature Conservancy in protecting sea turtles. In 2005, the Runduma community issued a declaration banning the harvesting and trading of both turtles and their eggs. The Runduma community also participated in the community program where the locals learnt to monitor the number of nesting turtles on the island and to transport the nest to safer shores when there were predators nearby (Cohen, 2011). Significant progress has been shown where approximately 243 turtles have laid an estimated 3,000 eggs on Runduma in 2008, compared to just 20 in 2006 and 77 in 2007.
- Credit: AFP
The success of the Runduma community in conserving sea turtles can be attributed to 2 factors. First, Runduma island is relatively small and comprises of a small population of approximately 500 people. The small community has a high degree of social cohesion, thus allows for interaction, monitoring of violations and enforcement of norms. The locals are motivated to abide by the declaration out of mutual respect for each other and because the act of protecting sea turtles has gradually grown to become a social norm in Runduma and violation of the declaration might lead to undesirable consequences like discrimination by other locals. Second, the Runduma community has access to resources from non-governmental organizations. The degree of trust established between the organizations and the Runduma community allows the 2 parties to collaborate effectively, wherein the locals are able to learn vital information regarding protecting sea turtles from the non-governmental organizations (Gardner & Stern, 2002).