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CAIRNS, Australia — Raine Island is a coral cay situated on the northern tip of Australia's Great Barrier Reef and has served as a nesting place for green turtles for over 1,000 years.
"Raine Island is a beautiful and special place," says Keron Murray, with the Wuthathi Aboriginal Corporation, in this video. "There's nowhere else in the planet where you come and see this many turtles. It's a wonder to see."
Even as the longest-known turtle breeding colony in the world, recent climate change-driven impacts are threatening the haven, the video explains.
The sex of most turtles — including green turtles — is dependent on the temperature of the developing egg, and higher temperatures produce female hatchlings.
With the temperature of the sand on Raine Island at record highs, 99% of the hatchlings are now female. More startling is the fact that it has been this way on the for at least the last 20 years.
"You do the math. All females, no males, what's going to happen? There's going to be a population crash and there'll be no more turtle," Murray says.
There are, however, initiatives taking place aimed at helping the island recover.
The Raine Island Recovery Project is a collaboration between the Queensland government, the Australian government and the Wuthathi People and Meriam Nation People to protect and restore the island's critical habitat to ensure the future of key marine species such as green turtles.
"We'll always be here, fighting for Raine Island, the turtles — but we can't do it alone," Murray says. "We need government and big business to wake up and see what they're doing to the planet and get real."
