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Another Honor for the Galápagos |
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By Kintto Lucas *
Ecuador is awaiting the imminent declaration of a marine reserve in the legendary islands as Cultural and Natural Heritage of Humanity.
QUITO – The Ecuadorian government and environmentalists are already celebrating the positive effects of declaring a Galápagos Islands marine reserve a Cultural and Natural Heritage of Humanity site, saying the official declaration is all but finalized.
The declaration will be decided by the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which is meeting Dec 7-16 in Helsinki.
Situated in the Pacific Ocean, 1,000 km off continental Ecuador's coast, the Galápagos archipelago is famous for having inspired the scientist Charles Darwin in his formulation of the theory of evolution.
The Galápagos, consisting of 19 islands and more than 40 islets, were declared a World Heritage of Humanity site in 1978.
Now it is the marine reserve's turn. The reserve includes the archipelago, but also the sea that surrounds it, covering a total area of 133,000 square km.
Created in 1986, and restructured and expanded in 1998 with the enactment of the Special Law for the Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Galápagos, the reserve is home to more than a million aquatic birds representing 19 species, approximately 100,000 sea lions, and endemic species like the albatross and the miniature penguin.
The expected UNESCO declaration brings with it the likelihood that laws intended to protect the Galápagos would be more speedily approved. The legislation would set limits for tourism and fishing, regulate the handling of dangerous substances and solid waste, and control human migration to the islands.
More than 1,900 plant and animal species native to the Galápagos can be found nowhere else on Earth - and at least 74 of them are in danger of extinction.
When priest Tomás de Berlanga "discovered" the islands in 1535, there were an estimated half million giant turtles there. By the early 1900s, the population had been reduced to 250,000. Today, there are just 12,000 to 15,000 left.
Environmental organizations stress that a declaration of the site as Cultural and Natural Heritage of Humanity would lead to better protection of the natural resources of the islands, which are suffering the effects of illegal and unregulated extraction.
Fernando Espinoza, of the Charles Darwin Foundation, said the UNESCO declaration serves as recognition of the efforts that Ecuador has made to take care of the marine reserve.
The main problem affecting the site in recent years has been "the extraction of two resources, the sea cucumber and sharks. But I think those practices are coming to an end," said the expert.
The Charles Darwin Foundation, which began operating in 1959 under the auspices of UNESCO, runs the scientific research station by the same name, based on Isabela Island. The station provides information and technical assistance for the Galápagos National Park and supports the scientists working there.
Franklin Bucheli, assistant director of Galápagos National Park, said the UNESCO declaration "will imply greater responsibility on the part of Ecuador and a commitment to the international community to maintain a legal ordinance that ensures non-extractive uses" of the marine reserve.
But not everyone agrees. The local fishing community, consisting mostly of small-scale fishing operations, says the limits on catches will make it difficult for them to survive.
The islands' tour operators have also complained, concerned about the restrictions on the number of tourists that will be allowed to visit the Galápagos. They are demanding an increase in the frequency of flights between the continent and the islands.
Ecuador filed a request for the Galápagos marine reserve to be declared a Heritage of Humanity site in 1994, but the petition was not even considered by the UNESCO Committee at the time.
The World Heritage Committee is entrusted with choosing the sites to be added to the World Heritage List, based on the guidelines of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, approved in 1972.
In early 2000, the Ecuadorian government - under President Gustavo Noboa - insisted in the request and last June convinced the UNESCO World Heritage Bureau to recommend the declaration, the last step before the Committee's final approval.
The Committee's mission in the months between the recommendation and the decision on the declaration is to assess the attitude of the countries that host the candidate sites, particularly the government's stance with respect to the management of the reserve or site to be declared heritage of humanity.
To demonstrate the Ecuadorian government's support for the project, President Noboa presented the "Galápagos Strategy 2010" at the end of November. The initiative focuses on preserving the archipelago's biodiversity.
"Galápagos Strategy 2010" has financial backing from several countries and multilateral organization like the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Global Environment Fund (GEF), the Andean Development Corporation and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation.
The governmental plan will begin with the launching of an environmental management program, which has financing of 13 million dollars from the IDB, and with the program to control non-native species on the islands, with 18.3 million dollars from GEF.
* Kintto Lucas is an IPS correspondent.
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