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Success
The Galapagos is inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List, a listing
of places considered unique in the world. The List is extremely selective,
and as of 29 June 2002 consists of 730 properties (563
cultural,
144 natural
and
23 mixed
properties).
After
nearly placing the Galapagos on the danger list, UNESCO
now
tentatively
considers
this
Site as
a successful
example of concerted action to safeguard a jewel of humanity. Text
from UNESCO
website
The
unparalleled scientific interest of the Galapagos islands as a natural
laboratory of evolution prompted the government of Ecuador to designate
them as a National Park in 1959 and UNESCO to place them on the World
Heritage List in 1978.
Such prestigious
recognition alone, however, did not suffice to protect the site from
the pressures and incursions of
the modern world and nearly
twenty years after its inscription on the List, the integrity of the
area appeared threatened by three major factors: accelerated human
settlement accompanied by the importation of foreign animals and plants,
uncontrolled
fishing, and tourism.
 While the
government of Ecuador wrestled with other urgent problems in recent
years, the situation
swiftly declined. Introduction of new species, depletion of existing
ones, disruption of the environment all tended to eradicate the
singular qualities which made the islands a vast natural laboratory for
biologists
studying ecosystems, species and gene-pools, and thus a precious
source of information concerning - to coin a phrase - the origins of
species
and the descent of man.
By 1995, finally,
things had reached a point where the UNESCO World Heritage Committee
announced
that it might have to put the site on the World Heritage in Danger
list. This particular procedure, UNESCO takes pains to point out,
does not amount to finger-pointing (at either the Ecuadorian government
or the management of the Islands) but rather offers the advantage
of focusing the attention of all states parties to the World Heritage
Convention on the problem while implying that they must be ready
to
share the costs of preserving the site.
It was suggested
that this inscription become effective on 15 November 1997 unless there
were clear signs of progress. The imposition of
this deadline contributed to focus the attention of the Ecuadorian
government on the matter. By the spring of this year, the latter
informed Bernd von Droste, Director of the World Heritage Centre,
that it had created a Ministry of the Environment in the preceding
year. The new minister was Mrs. Flor de Maria Valverde, a biologist
who has studied the flora and fauna of the Galapagos and professes
a strong commitment to the conservation of the site. The minister,
in turn, appointed a special Commission and entrusted it with the
drafting of a Special Law for the Islands. Dr. Gunther Reck, a
well known conservationist and fisheries biologist who is also a former
director of the Charles Darwin Station (an emanation of the Charles
Darwin Foundation located in the Islands) was put in charge of
coordinating
the work of the Commission while a Decree promulgated on 29 April
1997 by President Rivera, will allow the government to manage the
situation until the law has been written and voted in parliament.
One of the
purposes of this law will be to control the demography of the Islands,
ultimately reducing
it by two per cent. Meanwhile, says the newly appointed minister
of environment, an ongoing campaign has significantly reduced the population
of such animals as goats (some 30,000 of these were eliminated
from one island alone), and wild pigs (reduced, on the Island of Santiago,
from more than 5,000 to 100). Tourism too, will be more strictly
regulated
and a moratorium will exclude the deliverance of new permits for
cruise ships until the year 2005. Illegal fishing turns out to be a tougher
nut to crack and even the wardens can occasionally become the targets
of violent acts (a park warden was shot and wounded this year). Such
acts, the minister points out, "reflect the rise in aggressiveness
surrounding fishing activities and the powerful economic interests
that are at stake."
These various
initiatives, stemming from the World Heritage Committee's show of concern
two years
ago, may fairly soon provide the islands with the protection they
so urgently need. The Ecuadoran government has been requested to
provide annual progress reports. This success is all the more remarkable
since
the Committee is constantly navigating the perilous waters on the
fringes of national sovereignty and has no power to enforce its recommendations
- only the power to persuade.
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