Growing concern about the potential for
tourism to damage the fragile ecological balance of the Galapagos
Islands recently prompted separate actions by officials of the
United Nations and Ecuador.
On April 10,
Ecuador President Rafael Correa called an emergency meeting to
address what he described as "a state of risk and a national
priority" in the Galapagos.
Correa said the
purpose of the gathering of his cabinet and local Galapagos
authorities would be to address issues affecting the "conservation,
development and health of the archipelago and its marine
reserve."
A meeting was
held on April 20, after which Maria Isabel Salvador, Ecuador's
minister of tourism, said in a statement, "We are fully committed
to continuing to preserve the heritage of the Galapagos Archipelago
for future generations to enjoy. We will continue to protect the
islands from all nonsustainable activities."
Among the steps
being considered is suspending the issuance of new tourism and air
operation permits.
However, the
statement also stressed that "at present all tourism activity in
the Galapagos Islands is being carried out normally and in
accordance with the current regulations." Correa's decree came in
response to a statement issued by a UNESCO delegation after a visit
to Ecuador from April 8 to 12. It cited "serious threats" to the
archipelago and encouraged "ambitious measures" to preserve the
site, which is on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
The actual
findings of the delegation will be presented at the World Heritage
Convention in Christchurch, New Zealand, from June 23 to July
2.
Sites on the
World Heritage list must adhere to certain levels of protection and
conservation, which UNESCO monitors.
Kishore Rai,
deputy director of the UNESCO World Heritage Center, who was part
of the delegation to the Galapagos, said in an interview from Paris
that the biggest threat to the archipelago's ecosystem was the
arrival of invasive species aboard planes, ships and
people.
The Galapagos
received worldwide attention with the publication of Charles
Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" in 1859. Darwin's theory of
evolution was inspired by his visit to the islands, where species'
isolation from the rest of the world and from other islands
provided a unique laboratory for observing evidence of natural
selection.
Today, there is
growing concern that tourism, unless tightly controlled, poses a
threat to the islands' unique species by eliminating the isolation
on which their evolution depended.
"With the rapid
rate of immigration and tourism arrivals, of cruise ships and
airplanes without fumigation, with a lack of controls and adequate
checks, you have all these species arriving," Rai said. "It's
related to tourism but also to other services and the flow of goods
and materials and foodstuffs that comes into the
islands.
"It's not a
question of rolling back [tourism]," he said. "We want checks and
balances put into place."
Ecuador controls
tourism to the Galapagos to preserve its UNESCO World Heritage Site
status. The Charles Darwin Foundation, a nonprofit scientific
research organization based in Ecuador, estimated that
approximately 120,000 tourists visited the Galapagos last year, up
from 40,000 in 1991. The Ecuador Ministry of Tourism put the 2006
number higher, at 147,000 international and domestic
tourists.
The growing
tourism industry is in turn serviced by an increasing number of
immigrants to the islands. The CDF estimates that as many as 30,000
people live on the archipelago now, compared with only 2,000
inhabitants 40 years ago.
Salvador said
during the meeting that the Ecuador Ministry of Tourism would
evaluate measures aimed at protecting the Galapagos Islands from
all activities deemed "nonsustainable," including limiting tourism
arrivals to the archipelago and limiting tourism
permits.
Several companies
that bring tourists to the Galapagos expressed support for
increased conservation.
"With the
increasing immigration pressure and invasive species concerns, the
Galapagos region must be strictly controlled in relation to the
travel industry," Sven-Olof Lindblad, CEO of Lindblad Expeditions,
said in a statement. Lindblad Expeditions is one of the largest
Galapagos operators, bringing about 5,000 tourists per year on two
expedition ships.
Lynn Martenstein,
spokeswoman for Celebrity Cruises, which brings 4,800 cruise
passengers to the archipelago every year on one ship, said, "We
want to protect the Galapagos. Its appeal is its being pristine. We
want to work with the government and the community to keep it that
way, and so do our guests. It's very strict, and it has to be, or
they wouldn't have what people go to see."
To contact reporter Johanna Jainchill, send e-mail to [email protected].