Çirali Conservation

As well as the home of turtles, Çirali is a small resort with a handful of small hotels and pensions, restaurants, and a few shops. In conjunction with WWF, it is pioneering a type of eco-tourism which could lead the way for the rest of the Mediterranean.

They have ensured that development laws are enforced, and disallowed any encroachment on the three kilometre beach. So the shoreline shops and restaurants were moved back to protect the turtle nests, still allowing the visitor to dine on the beach without hampering the nesting of the turtles.

WWF also helped local people set up eco-friendly holiday businesses, and assisted local farmers in pollution prevention. Pesticides were contaminating the soil and groundwater, so the farmers were trained in growing their crops organically.

Unlike many resorts, where the big tour operators take most of the revenue, here nearly all the money stays with local businesses, so local people and visitors both benefit from holidays in harmony with nature.

Loggerhead turtle nests are now growing in number. Local people have developed a sense of ownership and responsibility, and eco tourism and the need to preserve this special place is on the increase. For instance Ahmet at the Arcadia Bungalows is a member of a local association called 'Friends of Çirali' and contributes some of the profits from Arcadia to this fund. They ensure that Çirali beach is kept clean, they keep an eye out for any illegal building, and also forest clearing.

Bayram Kütle, Head Of Conservation Co-Operative, Çirali, states: "Without the turtles there would be only few tourists here. Because we have the turtles here the family lodges, the local people, are making a lot money out of it. Also the local people are making profits from selling their homemade dishes and other products."

Following the example set by Çirali, ecotourism is now expanding along the whole Lycian coastline. With tourist organisations, WWF is developing schemes to run supervised trekking and biking holidays along ancient Lycian paths, and to train 9000 tour guides in environmental education and in monitoring the impact of the tourism.

Dr Tom Selanniemi, Tour Operators' Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development, says: "I think the WWF Çirali project is quite an encouraging example of how you can combine tourism, beach recreation tourism, with nature conservation and turtle nesting. Of course it’s not maybe the typical choice for a charter tour operator but I encourage this kind of development because it can provide a very good quality for the client”.