The Galapagos Islands as we know them face extinction. Mass-market tourism has put the naturalist’s paradise and eco-tourism beacon on the UNESCO list of World Heritage in danger. The past shows that visitors can benefit the ecosystem, but the future hangs in the balance.
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For millions of years, the isolated Galapagos Islands, six hundred miles off the Pacific coast of Ecuador, sheltered a unique collection of plants and animals. Their distinctive traits would inspire Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. But the islands’ natural balance is threatened by the uncontrolled spread of a new species: the tourist.
Long considered benign guardians of this fragile paradise, tourists could be about to evolve into destructive parasites.
Yet tourism remains the archipelago’s best hope. Visitors and those who cater for them have become part of the ecosystem. They cannot be eradicated. How they are managed is the key to preserving biodiversity in this living museum.
Paradise Found
Until the 1800s, these unique islands were left in peace. Whaling, fishing, and Darwin’s fame changed all that. The first tourists, mostly scientists, arrived in the 1950s.
“The early model of tourism was designed to fund conservations efforts so the two things have always interlinked,” explains Toni Darton, chief executive of the UK-based Galapagos Conservation Trust (http://www.savegalapagos.org/).
Nature tourism has dominated the islands ever since. It is the main source of income for the 28,000 residents. About 80 licensed live-aboard boats ferry visitors between nature sites on the islands.
In 1978, the Galapagos National Park became the world’s first Natural World Heritage Site. Almost half of the Park entrance fee of 100 dollars (for non-nationals) funds the Park Service. Without this income, there would be no conservation because 97 percent of the islands’ land area lies within the Park.
The Park controls all boats that access the islands, with some sites only open to one small group at a time. Dive sites are similarly restricted. For every visitor site, there are three or four similar sites left untouched. A qualified guide must accompany tourists so they stick to trails away from breeding sites and fragile areas.
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The Park has in these ways limited the direct impacts of tourism. “Ninety-five percent of the original biodiversity is intact,” says Darton. “The Galapagos is still one of the most pristine tropical archipelagos in the world.”
Paradise Lost
But the explosive growth in tourist traffic and the subsequent economic boom prompted UNESCO to place the Galapagos on its list of World Heritage in Danger. Visitor numbers went from 40,000 in 1990 to 140,000 in 2006. Commercial flights increased by 193 percent from 2001 to 2006.
The biggest threat is from the invasive species that travel as stowaways on ships and planes. Among the unwelcome guests are parasitic flies that burrow into native bird chicks and kill them and avian malaria that has even infected some Galapagos penguins.
The quality of tourism is changing as well. Nature enthusiasts catered to by small local operators have been joined by mainstream tourists, some packaging the Galapagos into a bigger trip, some interested in recreations like camping and kayaking.
This means more land-based tourism, more flights, businesses, roads, and buildings. Conservationists worry about uncontrolled sprawl from the main inhabited island of Santa Cruz to other islands as the population grows steadily every year.
But the Galapagos Islands can’t cope with unrestricted urban growth. Water and energy resources are limited, soils are marginal, fisheries vulnerable, and there are few places to dump human waste and rubbish.
Paradise Regained?
Are Galapagos islanders and tourists killing the goose that lays the golden eggs?
Not necessarily. The UNESCO intervention has had an effect. The Park introduced an embargo on large cruise ships after the 500-berth MV Discovery brought in several invasive species in 2007.
Several local operators have signed a charter to minimize their environmental impact, and Santa Cruz has introduced a successful recycling program including the recovery of waste oil from ships.
In 2009 the Ecuadorian government will rewrite the special provision for the Galapagos in the nation’s Constitution. That means tighter regulations on flights, ships, and tour operators.
A higher Park fee could cut tourist numbers and encourage a return to the high-value, low-number model of nature tourism.
Or perhaps the Galapagos would be better preserved without any tourists?
“I don’t think so,” says Darton. “The last 10 to 15 years has been damaging but I hope that we have hit bottom. Overall tourist growth can have a positive impact on conservation.”
Just ask Lonesome George, the world’s most famous tortoise and the last of his kind. In July 2009, scientists announced that the Galapagos’ most stubborn bachelor could be about to become a dad at the tender age of 90 after they had set him up with two female tortoises of a similar species.
George’s species teeters on the brink of extinction because people once killed tortoises for meat, and goats introduced by people ate his habitat. But without human intervention, George would probably never have found a mate.
The jury is out on humanity's impact on the Galapagos. But George’s love affair is a hopeful sign that tourism and conservation can work together.
editor: James Tulloch
publishing date: August 3, 2009
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