San Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research, the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have signed a two year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) detailing the creation of a global conservation program on freshwater turtles and tortoises under the supervision of Dr. Brian D. Horne (Conservation Research Postdoctoral Fellow). This MOU will allow Dr. Brian D. Horne to divide his time between his projects on the red-crowned roofed turtle in India and other crucial turtle conservation projects in Madagascar and Southeast Asia. Both these areas are well known for having highly diverse and/or endemic species of chelonians. Sadly, these two areas also have the majority of the most critically endangered turtle species in the world.  Dr. Horne is currently guiding multiple conservation programs for giant river turtle in places such as Myanmar, Cambodia, and Malaysia. He has also just recently returned from southwest Madagascar (http://www.turtlesurvival.org/blog) where he and a team from TSA and WCS help prioritize conservation projects for the island's unique and endangered tortoises.  New initiatives for Dr. Horne will include fieldwork on critically endangered endemic turtle species in Indonesia, Laos and Vietnam.
 
This MOU is a very exciting alliance as it creates the first-ever joint program between three major US conservation organizations devoted specifically to freshwater turtle and tortoise conservation.  TSA has been an integral partner with Dr. Horne's San Diego Zoo's Institute for Conservation Research postdoctoral research on the red-crowned roofed Turtle since 2005.  This new agreement will act as a catalyst for strategic turtle conservation projects that are crucially needed in Asia.