16/06/2026
On World Sea Turtle Day we turned our attention to Sasakolo Beach in the Solomon Islands - one of the largest leatherback turtle nesting grounds in the South Pacific, and the site of something quietly historic.
The Pacific leatherback is the world's most endangered marine turtle population. Scientists estimate the Western Pacific subpopulation has fewer than 1,400 breeding adults remaining. Protecting them depends entirely on people willing to show up, night after night.
In 2021, a dedicated leatherback conservation program developed with the Solomon Islands government, The Nature Conservancy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration returned rangers to Sasakolo after more than a decade away. For the first time, women were part of that program. On the very first patrol, women who were not even rostered showed up anyway. To watch, to learn, to be there. They have been showing up ever since.
This is no small thing. In Melanesian culture, conservation has long been considered men's work. Getting women to this beach has required deliberate, structural change, from building gender equity requirements into ranger training and working toward equal representation on the ground, to genuinely consulting with communities about what women actually need to do this work safely and sustainably.
That is what genuine partnership looks like. It does not arrive with answers. It builds them together.
The leatherback turtle comes from a lineage that has endured for more than 100 million years. With women like these standing watch, there is reason to believe it will endure what comes next.
Read the full article by The Nature Conservancy at the link below:
https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/asia-pacific/solomon-islands/stories-in-solomon-islands/female-rangers-save-leatherback-turtles/
