Share this
Twitter
Digg
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Yahoo
Technorati
Googlize this
Facebook
Print
E-mail
The Galapagos Islands is one of the most thoroughly protected wilderness areas in the world. The conservations efforts practiced on the island are incredibly thorough and ambitious, and tried to preserve the islands' unique flora and fauna.
This was not always the case. For most of the history of human settlement in the islands, little was done to protect the wildlife or their habitats. In the 17th and 18th centuries, sailors would capture giant tortoises to use as a food source on long voyages. Later, hunters decimated the seal population in the early 19th and 20th century. The introduction of foreign plants and animals, like goats, rats, cats and dogs, decreased the population of native species. More than half of all the species in the Galápagos are considered endangered or threatened. However, only a tiny fraction have become extinct.
These trends would have continued if not for the efforts of the Ecuadorian government, the local population and international conservation groups. Together, these groups have banded together to protect the islands. This started in the 1930s, when some islands were protected from development and agriculture by new laws. In 1959, 97 percent of the islands' landmass was placed under the protection of a new Galápagos National Park. In 1979, the park was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. In 1986, a marine reserve was established, which now covers a radius of 40 nautical miles (75 km.) around the islands. Within this area, industrial fishing was forbidden.
The Galapagos Islands is one of the most thoroughly protected wilderness areas in the world....
To conserve the natural wonder of the islands, a series of strict rules have been enacted. The new Special Law for the Galápagos places strict limits on the number of foreigners and Ecuadorians who can move to the islands, thus combatting sprawl and overcrowding. For those on the islands, there are strict rules about construction and resource use. Visitors must follow a number of rules, including prohibitions on touching the flora and fauna. Fires are forbidden within park boundaries. All boats visiting the island must be accompanied by a certified guide.
Park officials, international groups and local people have worked to not only halt the harm to local flora and fauna, but also to reverse the damage that has already been done. First, park officials have worked to remove the introduced species that wreaked havoc on native wildlife and plant life. This has mostly been done by hunting the introduced species, and there have been some notable triumphs: goats have been eradicated from several islands, while thousands of disruptive, feral pigs have been removed from Santiago Island.
Meanwhile, captive breeding programs are restoring some species that were perilously close to extinction. The focus for these programs has been on the sea tortoises, the first animals in the Galápagos to be hunted. On Pinta Island, only one tortoise remained; now there is a thriving and growing population. These projects are funded in part by the revenue earned from visitors to the islands.
