THE SEA TURTLES ARE RETURNING— TOGETHER WITH THE 10TH ANNUAL SEA TURTLE FESTIVAL, TULUM 2012

Along our coastline, the nesting season for sea turtles begins in mid-April. Although Mexico has many thousands of kilometers of beaches, it is important to recognize that the beaches of our Municipality of Tulum are those most used by the loggerhead turtle for laying their eggs, a key part of their life cycle. For this reason we need to care for and protect both our beaches and the sea turtles, which are now in danger of disappearing, due to years of human mistreatment.

With the arrival of the sea turtles to our beaches, we have also begun planning for the 10^th Annual Sea Turtle Festival—an event through which we celebrate the ecological and cultural importance in our municipality of the sea turtle, which serves as the symbol that inspires us to protect local wildlife.

The Festival is scheduled to take place from the 25^th to the 28^th of October, when we will offer the community a variety of educational, cultural and recreational activities: all to help us understand the many ways in which we can help to conserve the sea turtles for many years to come.

The members of the 10^th Annual Sea Turtle Festival Organizing Committee will publish a series of brief articles over the four months leading up to the Festival: to allow you to learn basic facts about sea turtle biology, their cultural and ecological significance, and why their conservation is so vitally important.

In this way we hope that that you and your family members will be able to fully enjoy the Festival and its many activities, by understanding what this event truly represents. We will also inform you about the activities that our organizations carry out throughout the year, in addition to the Festival, in order to conserve—in may different ways—these animals that are so important to us.

¡We are counting on your attendance!

The Organizing Committee of the 10^th Annual Sea Turtle Festival

Fundación Eco- Bahía, A.C.

Chair, 2012

• Casa de la Cultura de Tulum
• Centro Ukaná I Akumal, A.C. (Centro Ecológico Akumal)
• National Commission for Natural Protected Areas/Tulum National Park
• Municipality de Tulum
• State Secretariat of Ecology and the Environment
• State Sea Turtle Committee of Quintana Roo
• Xel-Há
• Flora, Fauna y Cultura de México, A.C.
• Global Vision International México (GVI)/Amigos de Sian Ka’an
• Tulum Travel Guide Magazine
• Citizens’ Finance Office

THE SEA TURTLES ARE RETURNING— TOGETHER WITH THE 10TH ANNUAL SEA TURTLE FESTIVAL, TULUM 2012