Island Time
Meet Estela Matilde, a 37 year old biologist from Portugal who pioneered a community conservation project to save the turtle populations of Príncipe Island in Africa’s Gulf of Guinea from the rising tide of plastic pollution.
Estela graduated from her biology degree with a dream of “changing the world one island at time.” In 2013 she was working as a field biologist when she received an email from an old teacher asking for help to complete the environmental certification process for an hotel on Príncipe Island, off the coast of Africa. Although certification wasn’t her expertise, Estela accepted the challenge and set off on a six month adventure.
Almost ten years and one child later, Estela remains on Príncipe as one of the island’s greatest protectors. Deemed a biosphere in 2012, Príncipe is home to some of the richest biodiversity and highest levels of endemism found anywhere in the world. For Estela, the island was paradise. After her contract with the hotel finished, she started working with local NGOs on conservation projects to help the community reduce pressure on the island’s resources and wildlife.
One of those projects was sea turtle conservation. The island is an important nesting site, with five out of seven of the world’s marine turtle species laying their eggs on the beaches but populations were declining fast as turtle meat was part of traditional cuisine. Estela and her team jumped to action with education programs and legal reform, achieving a near-zero poaching rate and a 43% increase in the number of nests since 2015.
Despite the victory, Estela soon realised she had a much bigger fight on her hands.
While running an experiment, tagging turtles with video cameras to observe their behaviour, she discovered the extent to which plastic pollution was threatening marine life. For seven years, Estrela has led a local crusade to collect over 750,000 plastic bottles washed ashore from all over the world and collaborated with locals to repurpose plastic waste into jewellery, floor mats and other enterprises.
Estela hopes that Príncipe’s grassroots efforts to mitigate pollution, protect biodiversity and use waste in a creative way will inspire other countries to step up their efforts. “We know that Príncipe is a drop in the ocean, but if we, an isolated island that lack so many things can produce such good results, surely any other nation can do the same.”
