Linking Livelihoods and Conservation: Challenges Facing the Galápagos Islands - Island Futures: Conservation and Development Across the Asia-Pacific Region - page 83

educate the community. The Total Control Plan in support of these objectives was
approved by the Government in 2006. However, the species control system lacks
continuous funding and, hence, like many other Galápagos institutions, lacks the
stability to demonstrate strong leadership. On a more positive note, some eradication
and restoration projects have been successful, such as the eradication of goats from
many islands (e.g. Cruz et al. 2009 ). However, these programs are costly and require
innovation and excellent coordination between stakeholders for success.
Pollution creates another indirect impact on biodiversity and human health in the
archipelago. The importation of over 30 million liters of fossil fuel into shallow-water
rocky ports poses a disastrous risk to coastal ecosystems. In 2001, the fuel tanker
Jessica sank off San Cristobal Island. Luckily favorable winds dispersed the oil out to
sea. Tourist boats regularly sink, spilling their fuels into the sea, yet there is still no oil
spill mitigation plan in place. Other pollution sources are luckily highly localized. The
sewerage of the towns goes directly into the highly permeable water tables which
discharge daily into the adjacent bays, and damages biodiversity. Inadequate treatment
and disposal of human waste also impacts on human health as tap water is drawn from
the same water table. Solid wastes from human enterprises also require careful man-
agement. Many of the landfill sites in the Galápagos are located within the National
Park and these are under pressure from increasing quantities of rubbish. The municipal
governments on the three most inhabited islands have recently taken some excellent
initiatives for recycling waste. Such recycling depends on returning waste materials to
the continent, a practice that in itself perpetuates the cycle of unsustainability.
Recommendations
(a) The key to future biological invasions is prevention and early detection.
Strengthening and optimizing the existing quarantine framework is essential.
(b) Progressively reduce the number and frequency of planes and cargo boats
between the mainland and archipelago through a tourism policy geared towards
decreasing number of visitors (see above).
(c) Implement restoration programs in priority areas, particularly among highly
threatened communities on inhabited islands. Restoration models should
include all aspects of the social ecological system and the provision of environ-
mental services.
(d) Improve planning for urban and rural development.
(e) Minimize pollution through the use of alternative energy, reduced consump-
tion, efficient recycling, and improved sewerage treatment.
Conclusions
The Galápagos authorities are at a crossroads: either they let the process of conti-
nentalization continue, and accept its consequences for the archipelago's unique
natural history, or they shift to a new, more sustainable model of tourism-based