Galapagos National Park

Galapagos National Park rangers were doing field work in Wolf Island and reported yesterday that they had seen a goat living on the island.

Darwin and Wolf islands are two of the most pristine islands in the Archipelago. They are located 220 miles north from San Cristobal Island. Tourism activities are prohibited on these islands and human activities are only permitted for conservation and research purposes.

Authorities are worried about this new finding and are taking immediately actions. The government has spent millions of dollars to control invasive species in the Galapagos over the years and especially for the eradication of goats due to their harmful environmental impact.

Goats feed on the native vegetation. This causes destruction of the habitat increasing the risk of extinction of endemic species. It is imperative that local residents and visitors are aware of the threat of these events.

Galapagos continues to face new changes with the Protected Area Tourism Regulations reform that President Correa has enacted these past months.

One part of this reform indicates that tourism activities can be independent from each other. This means that an existing tour operator will be required to apply as a new operator to be able to operate a new tourism activity, the same as residents that are new in the business.

The reform also limits the access of permits for new types of tourism activities. This applies specifically to local residents and tour operators with a previously valid permit. The goal is to promote local participation in the tourism business, so non-resident companies or individuals won’t count as new permit applicants.

This reform ultimately gives all the authority to the Galapagos National Park for the management and control of these new activities.

Fisheries, tourism, farming, commerce, education, conservation, are just a few activities that are about to change drastically after the decision that the Ecuadorian government has taken to face the UNESCO designation of Galápagos as a World Heritage Site in Danger.

The government is pushing through its plan for “local based tourism,” whose goal is to benefit local residents and minimize impacts on the environment. Local based tourism will open tourism activities to management by local residents and open new, lower cost market niches

The Galapagos National Park Service (GNP) is the authority in charge to manage tourism activities in 97% of the Archipelago. The new types of tourism that will be regulated are scuba, kayaking, bay tours, surfing, and port to port tours are some of the new additions. The permits to operate these activities will be given specifically to local residents. The intent is to promote the interest of fishermen who will be willing to give up their fishing license and exchange it for a tourism permit.

Local based tourism has brought new conflicts to the Islands. Some boat operators disagree with the new model and argue that Galapagos tourism is based on wildlife viewing. Other operators consider that the only way to visit Galapagos is by boat. The new operators defend their position by saying that tourism in Galapagos has to be accessible to everybody and this new model will bring benefits to more residents.

One of the biggest concerns for conservation and tourism sector is their belief that most local residents (the new operators) don’t have any expertise in tourism operations. They say that the risk of increasing environmental impacts and lowering the quality of tourism service and safety, bring into question the model of local-based tourism.

The dual activity of scuba and land operation is also part of this conflict. Legally land and scuba activities happen in two different areas (National Park and Marine Reserve), and they need two different permits. The purpose of the GNP is to provide opportunities to new operators in the new activities. This includes scuba. Actual tour operators are unhappy with this decision and they feel affected, even though only a few of them have the legal permit for scuba operations.

On the other hand, local residents are claiming their rights as new operators against the big companies. They also want to participate of the economic benefits that tourism brings to the islands.

How this will all work out is not clear.

– Pablo Gomez

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Charles Darwin Foundaton news

Galapagos National Park

The volcano, La Cumbre, at Fernandina Island got the attention of the Galápagos National Park Service (GNP) last August 28th. Rangers who were located at Bolivar Control Base observed smoke coming out of the volcano and alerted the GNP authorities. GNP aircraft flew the area the day after and didn’t find any ignitions of a new eruption. The conclusion was that the landslide of one of the walls of the crater caused the dusty scene that alerted rangers. The event was widely reported as a volcanic eruption by the world press.

For more information in Spanish: http://www.galapagospark.org/png/interna.php?TIPOPAS=Noticias&SECCIONPAS=Noticias%20y%20boletines&IDPAGINA=335

According to the newspaper, El Comercio, Ecuadorian legislators are working to remove the Minister of her obligations. She said that this is a campaign to persecute Rafael Correa’s government.

Members of congress accused the Minister of impacts and tourism regulations in the Galápagos Islands and ignoring five warnings from the UNESCO about the need to apply politics for controlling impacts in the Islands. They also questioned the approval of the environmental license for the entrance of the 500-passenger M/V Discovery.

The countdown for the Minister of Environment has begun last week. Some environmental groups support the idea of removing the Minister for her lack of leadership in the environmental impacts that Ecuador has been dealing with these past years.

For more information in Spanish:

http://www.elcomercio.com/solo_texto_search.asp?id_noticia=89232&anio=2007&mes=9&dia=14