Galapagos | Travel Guide | Galapagos conservation

In 1959 the 97% of the archipelago which is without human population was declared a national park and the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galápagos Islands was created. In 1979 UNESCO declared the Galápagos Islands a World Heritage Site.

The Charles Darwin Foundation's research station on Santa Cruz island runs a captive breeding programme for endangered tortoises and land iguanas. Its main roles are scientific research and education. The National Park Service concentrates on conservation issues and strictly controls the impact of tourism in the islands. Park fees fund important conservation programmes such as the eradication of feral goats, which number 100,000 on Santiago island alone.

Conservation on the Galápagos is certainly a success story. The Charles Darwin Foundation say that the islands are in their best state for a hundred years, as a result of the many measures that have been taken to reverse the earlier ill-effects of man's presence. This work would not be so far advanced were it not for the income provided by visitors, and there is no doubt that the effect of visitors has been positive overall.

Nonetheless this success presents problems too, in part because visitor income has brought an increase in local immigration to the islands from the mainland. There is permanent watchfulness on this and other issues to see that the balance is favourable to the conservation of the islands. For more information visit the websites of the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galapagos Conservation Trust. Recently the islands were added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in Danger, as a further call-to-action for the conservation of these 'enchanted islands'.

We provide all our clients to the Galapagos with complimentary membership of the Galapagos Conservation Trust.