Race to protect the Galapagos islands
Pastor Dale Morgan
Race to protect the Galapagos islands*
Fears that islands' fragile eco-system is close to collapse.
By Tom Leonard in New York
Last Updated: 1:31am BST 12/04/2007
They inspired Charles Darwin, are home to the most stunning menagerie
and delight thousands of tourists each year.
But yesterday the Galapagos islands were placed under emergency measures
amid fears that their fragile eco-system is close to collapse.
The islands that inspired Darwin's theories on evolution are at grave
risk from a population boom, overfishing, and, the Ecuadorean government
claims, from the thousands of tourists who travel each year to see the
remarkable animals that live there. The islands in the Pacific, some 600
miles west of Ecuador, are home to centenarian giant tortoises,
blue-footed boobies, marine iguanas and even vampire finches.
But the creatures may no longer be on the itinerary of the eco-tourist
after President Rafael Correa of Ecuador signed a decree to suspend
tourism and preserve the islands' natural treasures.
"We are pushing for a series of actions to overcome the huge
institutional, environmental and social crisis in the islands," Mr
Correa said. Pre-empting the findings of a Unesco report on the
archipelago, Mr Correa said the required course of action was clear. "We
do not need studies from some international organisation," he said. "We
are declaring the Galapagos at risk."
The government measures would also include a census of the islands, home
to a significant illegal population.
Unesco declared the islands a world heritage site in 1971 and has
monitored the ecosystem.
While numbers of tourists are capped by the authorities, some 120,000
visitors tour the islands each year - 100,000 more than 30 years ago. Mr
Correa said Ecuador would consider suspending some tourism permits and
enforce rigorous population restrictions. The indigenous species have
long struggled to contend with the arrival of non-native predators such
as black rats, dogs, cockroaches and cats that have been introduced
since English pirates brought goats in the 18th century.
Environmental pressures have increased in recent years, including a
growing human population, illegal fishing of sharks and sea cucumbers,
as well as internal bickering at the islands' national park. Unesco's
World Heritage Centre warned last month of the threats to the islands'
flora and fauna. A United Nations delegation is visiting the islands to
determine whether the world heritage site should be officially declared
"in danger".
The giant tortoise has a life expectancy of 150 years
Critics say the Ecuador government has failed to act as environmental
pressures build on its main tourist attraction.
Martin Wikelski, a biologist at Princeton University, said: "The
government needs to be stricter on what is allowed there.
"It is one of the world's most unique ecosystems... and continues to be
one of the most important laboratories for evolution studies."
The isolation of the islands made their ecology unique, allowing animals
to adapt without external influences.
Fewer than 3,500 people lived on the islands 30 years ago and tourism
was neglible. Today, the 19 islands house two airports and 18,000
people, who earn a living from fishing and tourism.
Thousands of feral goats are also posing a threat to the habitat of the
Galapagos's giant tortoises.
Five years ago, it emerged that the Darwin finches, which the naturalist
studied closely on his Beagle voyage in the 1830s, are threatened by a
new intruder. Many of the species - whose beak differences were crucial
in informing Darwin's evolution theory - are being attacked by larvae of
parasitic flies accidentally introduced to the islands by boat or plane.