We also train and equip local rangers to patrol turtle nesting beaches and protect against poaching.

WWF works through TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, to stop the illegal trade of turtle shells, meat, and eggs. WWF also supports programs that promote the value of sea turtles. Because exploitation of turtles is often driven by a lack of economic choices, we help develop alternative livelihoods so that local people are no longer dependent on turtle products for income. WWF works with local communities to reduce turtle harvesting and egg collection. We work to secure environments in which both turtles and the people that depend upon them can survive. WWF is committed to stopping the decline of sea turtles and works for the recovery of the species. Nearly all species of sea turtle are now classified as endangered, with three of the seven existing species being critically endangered.

Climate change has an impact on turtle nesting sites it alters sand temperatures, which then affects the sex of hatchlings. They also face habitat destruction and accidental capture-known as bycatch-in fishing gear. Slaughtered for their eggs, meat, skin, and shells, sea turtles suffer from poaching and over-exploitation. Over the last 200 years, human activities have tipped the scales against the survival of these ancient mariners. WWF's work on sea turtles focuses on five of those species: green, hawksbill, loggerhead, leatherback, and olive ridley. While these highly migratory species periodically come ashore to either bask or nest, sea turtles spend the bulk of their lives in the ocean. Seven different species of sea (or marine) turtles grace our ocean waters, from the shallow seagrass beds of the Indian Ocean, to the colorful reefs of the Coral Triangle and the sandy beaches of the Eastern Pacific.

Black and white 2 turtle