Puerto Ayora, June 2006
During the 1950s, significant strides were made to make Galapagos a protected area, building on earlier efforts in the 1930s. This was a direct result of recommendations made by a dedicated group of individuals who were devoted to the conservation of Galapagos as a site of pristine beauty and unrivalled uniqueness deserving of the world's attention and support to promote its conservation.
Following his visit to the islands in 1954, Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, an ethologist from the Max-Planck Institute, concluded that there was cause for alarm about the potential for the ecosystem's survival against invasive species and human impact. Eibl-Eibesfeldt raised the issue before the recently formed International Union for Protection of Nature, now the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and expressed his concern to the Government of Ecuador. His appeal gained many sympathizers, notably Robert Bowman in San Francisco, and they began urging the establishment of a biological research station on the islands. Several distinguished scientists in Europe and the Americas joined with them, including Julian Huxley, Roger Heim, S. Dillon Ripley, Jean Delacour and Misael Acosta-Solis. Delacour and Ripley, on behalf of the International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP), presented and gained approval for the proposal with the Government of Ecuador. This was the base from which the Galapagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) were created in 1959. This lasting partnership, combining science and management, has been the key to the successful and on-going restoration of the Galapagos ecosystem.
When this group of pioneers began to scrutinize conservation issues in Galapagos, they encountered a bleak history of recent events. Previously, a 1906 California Academy of Sciences expedition of scientists had registered hopelessness. Whalers and fur sealers had stripped natural resources from some islands, and, like many recently arrived settlers, had slaughtered tortoises and left domesticated animals to wreak havoc among the fragile biodiversity of the islands. Alarm bells were still going off in the early 1950s, before the CDF began operations, when scientists noted that giant tortoises continued to be harvested, sea lions were being killed for sport, and invasive species were competing with native species - and winning.
Today, the extraordinary accomplishments of the CDF and the Galapagos National Park Service (GNPS) are a testimony to the foresight of Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Robert Bowman and their colleagues. The advances made in the conservation of the islands over the last fifty years are the direct product of the conception of the CDF as an integral part of the fabric of Galapagos conservation, a remarkable institutional mechanism that permits the international community to work directly with the Government of Ecuador and the GNPS.
The Galapagos Islands remain a globally unique and fascinating ecosystem that are integrally bound to western evolutionary thought and are iconic model conservation sites. The islands represent one of the great global conservation success stories, in the face of the substantial threats that result from the interactions between people and the islands.
New and growing pressures, nonetheless, continue to challenge the successes of the past. As globalization proceeds, the threats to the islands grow exponentially. The increasing accessibility of the islands and the demand from international markets for tourism and marine products fuel an accelerating cycle of economic and population growth in Galapagos. This, in turn, places a strain on the existing local institutions. At the same time, as the Galapagos community becomes more heterogeneous and as alliances with external interest groups proliferate, conflicts have multiplied.
To protect Galapagos CDF and our partners will have to work together to forge a shared vision, create sustainable and equitable local businesses that are not driven by external markets and investments, build a Galapagos culture that understands how to live in a fragile island ecosystem, and further strengthen critical local institutions to lead these changes. We must, at the same time, continue to address the mounting threats of invasive species fed by the flows of people to, from, and among the islands. In doing so, we cannot forget critically endangered species - endemic insects, snails, snakes, geckos, and plants - that are perhaps less charismatic than the tortoises, but are vital to the health of the ecosystem.
Continual support is needed to ensure that these remarkable islands continue to be a haven of wildlife and a model of conservation. In 2006, the islands are again facing an apparently impossible situation, equivalent to the challenges that the visionary group of scientists and their colleagues confronted when they conceived the Charles Darwin Foundation in the 1950s. It is in the hands of the present generation to take up the new challenges to Galapagos conservation, ensuring that in another 50 years' time, the islands will be even better conserved than they are now.
Graham Watkins
CDF Executive Director