Green turtles remain on the global endangered species list as a direct result of an increase in plastic pollution in the sea and on beaches and natural predators, only one in every thousand green turtle born reaches adulthood.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Pakistan's regional wildlife organisation, the Sindh Wildlife Department have a joint conservation programme looking to improve the green turtle's chances of reaching adulthood and therefore egg-laying age.

According to a 2015 report, between 1979 and 2013 nearly 2.4 million eggs were transferred to protected hatcheries, of which 717,600 hatchlings were released in the sea.

But it takes a lot of work in making it easy for green turtles to come onto the beaches, find adequate egg-laying locations, and then protecting the eggs from natural predators in ring-fenced sandy incubation chambers.

Once the turtles have made their way onto the beach and the garbage left by picnickers and washed up marine pollution, it takes nearly an hour for the turtle to build a pit in the sand and a secure egg chamber to start laying eggs – even the slightest of disturbances during this process means the turtle would turn around and head back into the sea.

However, once the turtle has laid its eggs, there is still risk from natural predators such as wild dogs on the beach which would dig up the eggs and eat them.

To reduce this risk, wildlife officials look for freshly built pits and egg chambers at the crack of dawn and replace freshly laid eggs within protected sand chambers at designated sites near the beach.

After 40-60 days of incubation, hatchlings appear, which are then released back into the sea.

Locals in the area joined the effort to protect the turtle population off the coast of Karachi to protect what they believe is a part of their heritage.

Green turtles remain on the global endangered species list due to a drastic increase in plastic pollution in the oceans.

Conservationists in Pakistan say apart from natural predators such as wild dogs on beaches and increase in construction on beaches, plastic in the ocean and that which washes up on shores causes major problems for the endangered green turtle.