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The State of Galapagos

Monday, 16 February 2009 19:47

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Tod Emko From September to December 2008, the vegan conservation groups Sea Shepherd, Animal Balance, and S.P.E.C.I.E.E.S. waged a fight to protect the ecosystem and all the animals of the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. This blog recounts what happened in that time, serving for those three groups. The blog post below describes what the state of the Galapagos is, and what has transpired there with Sea Shepherd before my arrival.

First of all, the people responsible for a lot of the progress in this campaign can never be thanked or recognized, because identifying them would put them at great physical risk. That said, the residents of the Galapagos who helped us are absolutely invaluable to our cause, and without their support, our task here would be nearly futile.

And before we start talking about the actual campaign for conservation and animal welfare, it's important to understand the state of conservation in the Galapagos, and the state of Sea Shepherd here, in order to understand the nature of the fight.

The Galapagos Islands

As the residents of the Galapagos say, "The Galapagos isn't Ecuador." It's its own world, with its own culture, history, and conflicts.

One of the native residents of the Galapagos, asking to see my authorization papers

The Galapagos is absolutely nothing like any guidebook makes it out to be. It is a beautiful archipelago that needs a lot more help than anyone thinks. The sad truth is that the Galapagos is under such extreme ecological pressure that many of the unique plants and animals that identify these islands are rapidly going extinct, and it may be a few short years before all the amazing species of this archipelago disappear completely.

A blue-footed boobie bird, one of the unique species that people visit the Galapagos to see.

Twenty years ago, there were around 1,000 people total on Santa Cruz island, the most populace island of the Galapagos. This year, there are nearly 20,000 residents of this island, and it sees well over 1,000 new tourists per month, around 160,000 visitors a year, with over 350 truck taxis driving on it 24 hours a day. The impact of that many people absolutely crushes the ecosystem for many reasons...

Read Full Article supervegan.com, by Tod Emko

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Nuestra empresa INTELIFUEL esta buscando la forma de ayudar al medio ambiente porfavor necesito saber la informacion sobre la planta generadora de electricidad en Galapagos.

Atentamente,

Carolina Arias.

carolina arias , December 10, 2010 | url