Press release.- The 50th General Assembly meeting of the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands (CDF) was held at the recently inaugurated Inspiration Complex from November 8th to 9th, 2021. 

Board members, local and national authorities, scientists, staff, as well as special guests were, part of this meeting where important decisions were taken with implications for the conservation of the Galapagos.

The General Assembly was held in a hybrid format. "Having a hybrid meeting is quite complicated, but I think it worked well and we were able to receive important inputs from the members who attended, especially input toward the Foundation's new Strategic Plan," said Dr. Rakan Zahawi, Executive Director of CDF.

The annual reports of the Executive Direction, Science, Finance, and Fundraising teams were presented to the attendees, in addition to highlights of the most important results this year from CDF science projects.

One of the principal achievements of the institution's scientific work during 2021 concerned the project titled "Searching for control methods for the invasive fly Philornis downsi". This project made great progress researching a potential control agent of the Avian Vampire Fly, a small wasp, Conura annulifera. Investigating this wasp will continue to be part of the project’s priorities in 2022.

Danny Rueda, Director of the Galapagos National Park, and Joan Sotomayor, President of the Governing Council of the Special Regime of Galapagos, presented highlights of the bi-institutional work that is carried out in collaboration with CDF.

"For us, the strategic alliance with the Charles Darwin Foundation has been fundamental, because it has allowed us to carry out various management actions, based on the science generated by this organization," commented Danny Rueda during his presentation.

During the event, working groups were formed to address six important strategic foci that will underpin the 2022-2027 CDF Strategic Plan, to define future actions for the conservation of the Galapagos.
Participants of the event included the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility; the Ministry of the Environment represented by the Galapagos National Park Directorate; the Secretary of Higher Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation; the Ministry of Tourism; the Military Geographic Institute; the Governing Council of the Special Regime of Galapagos; the Ministry of Agriculture; the Agency for the Regulation and Control of Biosecurity and Quarantine for Galapagos; the Municipality of Santa Cruz; among others.

Andrea Moscoso, representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, cordially invited the members of the General Assembly to host next year's meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs facilities in Quito.
Since 1971, the CDF General Assembly meeting has been held annually during the month of November. The objective is to enable the organization's authorities to learn about the results of the work carried out during the past year and make informed decisions for the strategic implementation in the upcoming year.