The Livelihoods Defense Crumbles
For decades, defenders of Indonesia’s freshwater turtle trade have advanced a compelling argument: the harvest of tens of thousands of chelonians annually provides crucial income for rural communities who would otherwise struggle to survive. This narrative has helped sustain a commercial operation that exports nearly 50,000 turtles each year, primarily to satisfy China’s appetite for turtle meat. Yet new research published in the journal Discover Animals dismantles this justification, revealing that the legal trade supports fewer than 400 people nationwide at minimum wage levels in a country of 285 million inhabitants.
Wildlife trade researcher Vincent Nijman of Oxford Brookes University and his colleague Chris Shepherd from the Center for Biological Diversity set out to test the livelihoods hypothesis that has long shielded the industry from stricter regulation. They examined the economics of Indonesia’s legal harvest of four freshwater turtle species: the vulnerable Asiatic softshell turtle (Amyda cartilaginea), the endangered Southeast Asian box turtle (Cuora amboinensis), the Asian leaf turtle (Cyclemys dentata), and the Malayan softshell turtle (Dogania subplana). These species can only be sold internationally with permits under CITES, the international wildlife trade treaty, and collectors require licenses within Indonesia where each province sets harvest limits.
Nijman explained the study’s motivation in an interview with Mongabay. “We were looking for some support for the idea that, indeed, wildlife trade contributes to livelihoods,” he said. Instead, their analysis revealed an economic reality that questions whether the trade should continue at all, particularly as many targeted species face extinction pressures.
The Mathematics of a Failing Trade
To determine how many Indonesians could realistically survive on turtle collecting, the researchers calculated potential income by multiplying market prices, ranging from $1.10 to $20 per turtle, by the number of animals permitted for harvest across 27 provinces between 2016 and 2022. They compared these figures against provincial minimum wages recommended by the Indonesian government. The results proved stark. The legal trade could support somewhere between 241 and 306 collectors with a subsistence minimum wage income. If collectors sought a livable wage, approximately one-and-a-half times the minimum, that number dropped to 161-204 people nationwide.
Even these figures represent generous estimates that exclude business expenses such as permits, transportation, and equipment. The provinces of North and East Kalimantan on Borneo supported the most collectors at 41 people combined, while seven other provinces could provide minimum wage income for just one or two individuals. “The only way you can get more people to make a minimum wage out of it is to allow a higher number of turtles to be collected in the provinces with the lowest minimum wage,” Nijman noted. Yet with turtle populations already declining, the current quota of 50,000 represents the upper limit for sustainable management, leaving no room for expansion.
The researchers also modeled scenarios where collectors supplemented their income rather than relying solely on turtles, assuming the trade provided about 10% of yearly earnings. Even under this generous assumption, the industry could support only 2,400-3,000 people across Indonesia’s vast archipelago. “Wild-caught turtle trade is not sustainable, and therefore it doesn’t make sense to promote it as a livelihood issue,” said co-author Chris Shepherd, who previously worked with the Monitor Conservation Research Society in Canada.
Biology Versus Commerce
The economic shortcomings of the turtle trade compound biological vulnerabilities that make these reptiles exceptionally ill-suited for commercial exploitation. Turtles have evolved with traits including delayed sexual maturity, low reproductive rates, and high hatchling mortality. These characteristics allowed them to persist through mass extinctions that eliminated dinosaurs, but they render populations incapable of withstanding sustained harvest pressure.
Jennifer Sevin, co-founder of the Collaborative to Combat the Illegal Trade in Turtles at the University of Richmond, explained that these biological constraints create lasting damage. “Once a population begins to decline, it can be incredibly difficult for it to recover,” she warned. “This is especially true when it comes to commercial-scale exploitation.” The situation proves particularly dire because the meat trade specifically targets larger, mature turtles that command higher prices but also represent the breeding stock essential for population maintenance.
The trade dynamics create a high-volume, low-value commodity chain that demands massive extraction to generate profit. Nijman describes the turtle meat business as “only commercially viable if it’s done at scale.” This pressure drives harvesters to exceed sustainable limits, contributing to what biologists termed the “Asian turtle crisis” around the turn of the 21st century. At that time, researchers from the International Union for Conservation of Nature determined that nearly three-quarters of Asian turtle species faced threats, primarily from collection for meat and the pet trade. Current assessments indicate the situation has deteriorated further, with 83% of Asia’s turtle species now considered threatened.
The crisis extends beyond Asia’s borders. Diminishing Asian populations have triggered increased exploitation of turtle species worldwide, including the United States where approximately 40% of turtle species face threats. The U.S. exports millions of turtles annually, with several states permitting commercial exploitation of wild populations despite recent regulatory improvements.
The Shadow Economy of Shells
The study suggests that legal quotas cannot sustain the trade’s economic demands, indicating that illegal harvest must fill the gap to keep operations profitable. Nijman and Shepherd estimate that up to 90% of the turtle meat and carapace trade from Indonesia may operate outside legal channels. This aligns with patterns observed in other Indonesian wildlife trades, where species such as songbirds, tokay geckos, forest birds, and leopards frequently exceed legal quotas or bypass regulations entirely.
Evidence of systematic overharvesting abounds. Research published in 2022 documented two traders in an Indonesian province receiving between 19,000 and 45,000 Southeast Asian box turtles annually from collectors despite holding a combined legal quota of only 400 turtles. Such discrepancies suggest that legal permits serve primarily as mechanisms for laundering illegally collected animals into international markets.
Even accounting for illegal trade, the economic benefits remain minimal. The researchers calculate that with expanded illegal harvests, perhaps 1,500 to 3,000 people could earn minimum wage by pulling turtles from the wild. This represents roughly 5-10 people per million inhabitants. For the turtles, however, such extraction rates prove devastating. A 2014 report by the Indian Ocean South East Asia Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding documented extensive illegal take across the region, with Indonesian waters serving as a primary source for trafficking networks supplying China, Japan, and Taiwan. Indonesian authorities warned in 2012 that international trafficking of marine turtles was increasing nationwide due to rising East Asian demand.
Taxonomic Surprises Intensify Conservation Crisis
Complicating conservation efforts, recent taxonomic revisions have revealed that Indonesia’s harvest quotas protect fewer species than previously assumed. In 2023, scientists determined that the Southeast Asian box turtle, long considered a single species, actually comprises six distinct species and subspecies. Among these is Indonesia’s critically endangered Palu box turtle (Cuora amboinensis aurantiae), which faces intensified pressure from harvesters who cannot distinguish it from more common relatives.
Jordan Gray from the Turtle Survival Alliance, who also serves on the IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group, emphasized the urgency of this discovery. “With the recognition of the Palu box turtle as a distinct, critically endangered subspecies, this demands a swift action to revise or suspend the harvest quotas before irreversible losses occur to this particular animal,” he stated. The revelation illustrates how quota systems designed for assumed species boundaries may inadvertently drive rare taxa toward extinction.
Gray noted that Indonesia possesses clear evidence that the current system fails both economic and ecological tests. “There’s clear evidence that the trade is neither economically efficient or ecologically sustainable,” he said. “And so Indonesia, using this information, has the opportunity here to reassess their harvest quotas or potential bans.”
Searching for Alternatives in a Changing Indonesia
The study’s findings arrive as Indonesia’s government demonstrates capacity for large-scale social intervention under President Prabowo Subianto. The administration has implemented massive social assistance programs including makan bergizi gratis (free meals for school children and pregnant mothers), sekolah rakyat (free boarding schools for impoverished children), and kooperasi desa merah-putih (government-run village cooperatives). These programs, collectively termed “Prabowonomics,” spent approximately $15 billion in 2024 alone, suggesting institutional capacity exists to provide alternative livelihoods for the few hundred turtle collectors currently dependent on the trade.
Conservationists point to alternative models throughout the region. Malaysia’s decades-old turtle egg buyback scheme in Terengganu state has relocated more than 71,000 green turtle eggs since 2016, achieving hatching success rates of 77.6%. However, this model faces criticism regarding long-term sustainability and questions about whether funds would be better directed toward non-extractive approaches such as ecotourism or employing former harvesters as beach monitors. Peru offers a contrasting example with its managed turtle ranching program, where communities collect yellow-spotted river turtle eggs for incubation before releasing some hatchlings to the wild and selling others internationally as pets. While this program has increased turtle numbers in managed areas, monitoring data reveals that poaching remains rampant throughout Peru, with the species ranking as the country’s third most trafficked between 2015 and 2020.
Indonesia’s current approach to conservation enforcement suggests both opportunity and risk. The government’s aggressive intervention in Tesso Nilo National Park on Sumatra, which involves relocating hundreds of families from illegal plantations under military oversight, demonstrates capacity for strict enforcement. However, critics note that such approaches require safeguards to prevent human rights violations and ensure displaced communities receive viable alternative livelihoods. “Don’t let people be moved to empty land without the guarantee of a livelihood,” warned Riko Kurniawan of civil society organization Paradigma.
For turtle collectors, Shepherd argues that sustainable alternatives must replace current practices. “Livelihood solutions should be sustainable,” he said. “Wild-caught turtle trade is not sustainable, and therefore it doesn’t make sense to promote it as a livelihood issue.” Turtles serve crucial ecological functions as opportunistic omnivores that scavenge dead animals and maintain clean waterways, providing services that disappear when populations collapse.
Key Points
- Indonesia’s legal turtle trade supports only 241-306 people at minimum wage levels, not the thousands commonly claimed by trade defenders.
- Researchers estimate up to 90% of Indonesia’s turtle meat trade operates illegally to compensate for low legal profit margins.
- Four species dominate the legal harvest: Asiatic softshell, Southeast Asian box turtle, Asian leaf turtle, and Malayan softshell turtle, all facing population declines.
- 2023 taxonomic revisions revealed the critically endangered Palu box turtle as a distinct subspecies, demanding immediate quota revisions.
- Indonesia’s current government spends billions on social assistance programs, suggesting capacity exists to fund alternative livelihoods for affected collectors.
- Turtle biology, including delayed maturity and low reproduction rates, makes wild populations unable to withstand current commercial extraction levels.
