Nests vs jobs: will a new port spell doom for DRC’s olive ridley turtles?

Despite recent success in increasing numbers, Congo's rising sea levels, coastal erosion and now the country's first deep sea port pose new threats

The sun is peeping over the horizon when eco-guard Christian Ndombe tips a bowl containing hundreds of baby turtles on to the beach where the Democratic Republic of the Congo meets the Atlantic surf. The newborns, who have spent the last eight weeks incubating at the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) hatchery near the town of Muanda, inch towards the waves before being swept into the sea.

Over the past decade, the efforts of Ndombe and other ICCN rangers at Congo's only marine national park have helped to increase the number of nesting turtles by reducing poaching, educating fishers and helping to safeguard nests. But rising sea levels and increasingly aggressive coastal erosion are shrinking the beach, leaving the females without the quiet, dry, sandy areas they need to lay their eggs.

Christian Ndombe, an eco-guard at the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation