Although there are countless examples, some even more serious and clear-cut, of the devastating impact of human activity on the natural world and on wildlife, certain photographs carry a particular symbolic weight, capable of illustrating with blinding clarity the environmental degradation of our planet. Consider, for instance, the photo of a polar bear taken in 2015 in Svalbard, showing an emaciated and exhausted animal making its unsteady way across a thin sheet of ice, encapsulating the consequences of climate change. A similarly gut-wrenching feeling is stirred by a photograph that went viral in recent days, showing a female green turtle (Chelonia mydas) laying her eggs on the tarmac of the runway at Maafaru airport, in Noonu Atoll, in the Maldives.

A sad homecoming

Female sea turtles almost always return to lay their eggs on the same beach where they were born. These ancient reptiles use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate the ocean and are able to find their way back to their natal beach — the very beach from which they first ventured out to sea. The green turtle at the centre of this story swam a long way to return and nest on "her" beach, a historically important nesting site for green turtles, only to discover, upon arrival, that the beach no longer exists: in its place stands an airport.

Read also

• There is still hope for sea turtles
• All sea turtle species are contaminated by microplastics
• Caretta caretta turtles are nesting on Italian beaches again
• The secret life of sea turtles in Italy

The other face of development

Sea turtles dig a deep hole in the sand and lay their eggs in it, covering them over to hide them from predators. The turtle photographed in the Maldives by a worker involved in the airport's construction, belonging to a species classified as threatened on the Iucn Red List, made the best of a bad situation and laid three eggs nonetheless. "It's a powerful image and I think it highlights the importance of beaches for sea turtles," said Claire Lomas, a sea turtle veterinarian, to the newspaper Maldives Independent. "Human development almost always has an impact on the environment and I think it's important to be aware of this and to take steps to minimise disturbance and protect areas that are important for threatened species, such as sea turtles."

What is an airport doing there

Maafaru airport, not yet completed, was financed by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development and cost approximately 60 million dollars. According to statements made by Maldivian president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, the airport was donated to the Maldives by the United Arab Emirates. To build the new runway — which will be able to handle the take-off and landing of six aircraft the size of a Boeing 737 and stretches for more than two kilometres — the island was stripped of its trees. A hotel and a resort are also to be built on the small atoll, risking further damage to the ecosystem.

Ahmed Nihan @ahmed_nihan

𝕏

N Maafaru Airport ves #Nimeneee #Nimeneee Varah Avahah Nimeyne.

♥ 53💬 8 14 mar 2018 · Apri su X →

An airport shrouded in opacity

"Despite the construction of the runway, the frequency with which turtles visit the island for nesting has not decreased," said a spokesperson for the Maafaru Island Council. The turtle found on the runway was returned to the sea and was, according to witnesses, in good health. However, according to reports from local media, the animal was found dead on Sunday. The incident has reignited the debate over the environmental cost of infrastructure development in the Maldives. The project to build the airport, wrote the daily Vnews, had been rejected in 2009 following a negative environmental impact assessment, which had advised against its construction precisely because of the area's importance for sea turtles. Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Authority is examining complaints filed against the developer in connection with alleged irregularities.

The bleak photograph of a turtle forced to lay her eggs on scorching tarmac can — and indeed must — remind us once again that habitat loss is one of the leading causes of animal species extinction, and that even our holidays on the other side of the world come at a high environmental cost.