Boa Vista, Cabo Verde: hotel on a nesting beach and the rise in loggerhead nesting
- According to the Turtle Foundation's 2011 page on the opening of the RIU Touareg hotel, several dozens of my turtles "were slaughtered on this beach". Turtle Foundation
The RIU Touareg hotel opened on Lacacao beach, Boa Vista, in May 2011, after the Turtle Foundation began protecting the beach in 2009. A 2026 paper reports an 80-fold rise in nesting on three Boa Vista beaches from 1998 to 2024.
Reported by a 2026 paper (Roch et al.), as relayed by Mongabay.
Status As of June 2026, the latest dated item on record: a 2026 paper reports an 80-fold rise in nesting on three Boa Vista beaches from 1998 to 2024, as relayed by Mongabay.
- Loggerheads on Boa Vista — "Several dozens of turtles were slaughtered on this beach", according to the Turtle Foundation (2011) Turtle Foundation
What happened
Boa Vista holds about two-thirds of Cabo Verde's loggerhead nesting. The RIU Touareg hotel opened on Lacacao beach in May 2011. The Turtle Foundation said it began protecting the beach in 2009, citing construction impacts and poaching, with more than 500 workers on site. On its page about the opening of the hotel, the Turtle Foundation wrote that "several dozens of turtles were slaughtered on this beach".
A 2026 paper (Roch et al.), as relayed by Mongabay, reports an 80-fold rise in nesting on three beaches from 1998 to 2024, with key beaches above 22,000 nests per km in 2021.
- 1998Start of the period over which a 2026 paper reports an 80-fold rise in nesting on three Boa Vista beaches
- 2009The Turtle Foundation starts protection on the beach, citing construction impacts and poaching with over 500 workers on site
- 2011The RIU Touareg hotel opens on Lacacao beach (May)
- 2021Key beaches above 22,000 nests per km
- 2024End of the period of the reported 80-fold rise; the paper is reported in June 2026
What was said
“several dozens of turtles were slaughtered on this beach”
How it looked
Shown
Recorded
- The RIU Touareg hotel opened on Lacacao beach in May 2011; the Turtle Foundation started protection there in 2009, citing construction impacts and poaching with over 500 workers on site.
- A 2026 paper (Roch et al.) reports an 80-fold rise in nesting on three beaches from 1998 to 2024, with key beaches above 22,000 nests per km in 2021.
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Record
- None on record None on record: money (hotel cost, revenue, fines or compensation) connected to the hotel or the beach, in the sources reviewed.
- None on record No source on record for: a report that more than 8,000 females were killed on unprotected beaches in 2007.
Did the harm stop?
The sources reviewed give a rise in nesting on three beaches between 1998 and 2024 and nest densities above 22,000 per km on key beaches in 2021. They do not report whether killings or construction impacts continued after the Turtle Foundation began protection in 2009.
Who paid?
No payment is on record in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Press and investigations
Communities and civil society
- Turtle Foundation news page on the opening of the RIU Touareg hotel at Lacacao beachTurtle Foundation · 2011
Connected cases
- The Hague's fossil fuel advertising ban took effect in 2025 after court upheld it Netherlands · 2021
- TUI (Company) — here: Named alongside RIU in the sources reviewed; there: Travel company; claimant against The Hague ban