UNESCO research

The Galapagos Islands of Ecuador

The Galapagos Islands of Ecuador are home to some of the most unique species on earth . Until a few centuries ago , the Islands were unknown to humans . The surroundings are harsh , however the various species found in the Galapagos have adapted over the centuries and have successfully thrived in their ecological isolation (Galapagos Conservancy , 2007 The theory of evolution by natural selection was inspired by the famous visit to Galapagos , made by Charles Darwin in 1835 (2007 . The Islands are visited by 100 ,000 tourists every year

and thousands of residents move to the Galapagos Islands yearly for employment opportunities in areas of marine and terrestrial wildlife (2007 . The rise in tourism , especially over the past decade has introduced numerous invasive plants and animals which has reduced the number of native species and destroyed many of the species habitats . The high number of yearly tourists has also drained marine resources , making it exceedingly difficult to replace such resources . The following essay will discuss the threat to the biodiversity of Galapagos due to the rise in tourism and what needs to be done in to ensure the safety and stability of the Galapagos Islands

Human Intrusions

The biodiversity of the Galapagos Islands has been well conserved since it was first visited in 1835 by Charles Darwin the Islands have maintained ninety-five percent of its original biodiversity the Islands however , are fragile (Watkins Cruz , 2007 . The biological diversity is highly susceptible to invasive species , over harvest of its natural resources , pollution , natural and anthropogenic disasters and climate change (p .3

The negative effects of the increase in tourism are a primary concern Tourism has increased fourteen percent per year for the past fifteen years (Watkins Cruz , 2007 . Forty thousand tourists visited the Islands in 1990 in 2006 , the number of visitors had skyrocketed to more than 140 ,000 . The increase in tourists has subsequently increased the number of large ships which carry over five hundred passengers and numerous invasive species . The rise in tourism has resulted in a drastic change in tourist identity and concessions . Over the past several years the Galapagos Islands has stopped attracting the environmentally friendly , nature loving ' tourists and has begun attracting a high number of ecotourists ' who are known for using international travel services which increases the number of ships and planes to the Islands

The million and is distributed between tourism boats , international airlines , continental Ecuadorian expenses , flights to Galapagos from continental Ecuador , retail agencies outside of Ecuador , hotels restaurants , and services in Galapagos (See Figure 2 (Watkins Cruz br

.12 , 2007 . The value of tourism is why researchers and scientists must address the issue , creating a more environmentally friendly tourism model will result in lowing the number of invasive species , while saving the livelihoods of residents Figure 1 . Distribution of the Research for this essay has demonstrated that many researchers are concerned with the future biodiversity of the Galapagos Islands because of the change tourism has made over the...