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Ocean & BiodiversityJune 25, 2026

Teeming with Turtles: Cabo Verde Island Sees 80-Fold Increase in Nesting Loggerheads

In 2018, night patrol teams on Boa Vista, the third-largest island in the Cabo Verde archipelago, started noticing a change along the beaches: The loggerhead turtles were arriving in significantly larger numbers than usual. In previous years, each team, comprised of staff and volunteers from local conservation NGO Cabo Verde Natura 2000 (CVN2), encountered between five and 10 female turtles (Caretta caretta) a night. But now, the teams were each recording between 20 and 30 females a night. By 2021, that number had grown to between 30 and 40. A recent study published in Biological Conservation confirms the upward trend: An 80-fold increase in the population of loggerheads nesting at three of Boa Vista's beaches over 27 years, from 1998 to 2024. The authors of this first long-term study of Cabo Verde's nesting loggerheads ascribe the remarkable trend to decades-long conservation efforts at the local and national level. Loggerheads, which primarily inhabit temperate and subtropical regions of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans and the Mediterranean Sea, are long-lived, slow-maturing migratory animals. With a lifespan of 80 years or more, female loggerheads take decades to reach sexual maturity. The global loggerhead population has declined by 47% over the past three generations, according to the last IUCN Red List assessment, where it remains listed as a globally 'vulnerable' species. The IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, largely attributes this decline to anthropogenic pressures such as habitat loss, marine pollution, bycatch, poaching and multiple climate change-driven impacts. Relative to other global loggerhead nesting sites, the numbers at Boa Vista are striking. Whereas biologists have recorded up to 600 nests per kilometer (0.62 mile) at sites in the U.S. state of Florida and in Oman (the only other sites with more than 10,000 females nesting per year), the new study found that the three largest nesting sites at Boa Vista reached a whopping 22,000 nests per kilometer in 2021.

Policy & GovernanceJune 18, 2026

The European Commission Launches the First Strategic Framework for Islands

Brussels – "For the first time, the European Union has adopted specific strategic frameworks for its island and coastal regions." This was announced today (10 June) by the Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms, Raffaele Fitto, on the occasion of the adoption of the EU's first strategies for islands and coastal communities. Fitto explained that the two plans have been introduced because the European Union comprises three coastal Member States (Cyprus, Ireland and Malta) and 4,000 islands, where, according to Commission estimates, 17 million people live. "The islands face challenges similar to those of other European territories, yet the impact is often exacerbated by a specific condition: insularity," the Vice-President pointed out, emphasising that the issue is not merely "a geographical fact," but a real economic cost. "The cost of insularity," explained Fitto, is a figure "that millions of EU citizens and businesses pay every day simply because of where they live and operate, with a consequent long-term structural negative effect on their income and competitiveness." According to the data presented by the Commission, compared to the mainland, transport costs on islands can be 300 per cent higher, public spending 30–50 per cent higher, and house prices 75–130 per cent higher. Most European islands have a GDP of 70 per cent of the EU average. In Italy, it is estimated that insularity can reduce GDP in Sicily by 7 per cent and in Sardinia by up to 36 per cent. As for employment rates, the average for the islands is 59 per cent of the EU average. The strategy for the islands is therefore structured around four key pillars: economic development, connectivity, competitiveness, and innovation; energy security, environmental protection, and climate resilience; community and demography; security and crisis preparedness. On this point, Fitto reiterated that "the scope of this strategy has not been defined in Brussels" and that the strategies are "the result of an in-depth and ongoing dialogue with local areas and communities" after the executive had, in recent months, "organised meetings, missions, and discussions across Europe and in Brussels and issued a formal call for contributions, in which 358 stakeholders from 18 Member States took part."

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The European Commission Launches the First Strategic Framework for Islands