The Galapagos Islands in Ecuador - Case Study Example

Saving Galapagos Islands The Galapagos Islands, in Equador has witnessed the development of unusual flora and fauna and is a World Heritage Site. Unfortunately, due to excessive tourist traffic these islands face extreme risk of the extinction of these exotic varieties of flora and fauna. (unesco.org, 1978). Let us first analyse the challenges faced by Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. One of the main disadvantages of an island is that it has extremely limited and viable economic opportunities other than tourism. The main source of income and employment to the people is generated through tourist traffic. The more the number of tourists the better is the employment of the local community. The international market is not providing a high value to agricultural and mining communities. Moreover due to global warming there is considerable depletion in the fish population and this is also not a very reliable source of livelihood. In this case, the main catalyst to economic development is tourism. The development of tourism leads to increased competition, starting new business and having a lot of migrants from other nearby destinations who come to avail of better employment opportunities. The main challenge faced by Galapagos Island is that increased tourist traffic has caused a bevy of people to set up new tourism and associated businesses. This is leading to a considerable increase in population thereby leading to depletion of forests and encroachment of land by people. This in turn is responsible for forcing many rare and exotic species of flora and fauna to the brink of extinction. Let us analyse which methods should be employed in order to save Galapagos archipelago. 1. The Equador government in collaboration with UNESCO is trying all means to curb the presence of more tourists in this island. The ongoing threat to this island presented by a high influx of tourists has forced UNESCO to put this in its danger list. The Equador government on its part is also cracking on migrants or people who do not have legal status to stay in Galapagos. (The Observer, 2008). 2. There is an immediate need to eradicate the pet animals and plants brought by people to the Galapagos Islands. Felipe Cruz, the chief architect of Project Floreana, is fervently campaigning against such issues. In other words, the people, government, stakeholders and the entire community must get together to rebuild nature. (The Christian Science Monitor, 2009). 3. An extremely negative effect of tourism is that it is often responsible for breeding and encouraging illegal activities like illegal poaching and destroying the flora of the island. Galapagos Islands are known for its exotic breeds of flora and fauna – both found in the ocean as well as in the island. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is trying to maintain a positive and strong presence in the Galapagos Islands. It is fervently working towards protecting the marine life and is helping to put a stop to illegal fishing activities and busting shark finners. It is also educating the local youth to save the nature and promote ocean conservation. (Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, 2011). 4. Moreover the stakeholders should also be actively involved in protecting this island from further ruins. It is very important that they all understand that conserving this island in the long run will prove to be beneficial to them. In the case of Galapagos, first conflicts among the difference stakeholders have to be resolved and then only it will result in successful decision making to promote ecotourism and sustainable tourism. (Sheldon, 2005). Despite all the fervent measures that are being carried out to prevent this archipelago, there is still an alarming rate of tourists entering the islands. This is all thanks to the Ecuador government and the tourism industry who are devising new and innovative ways to attract tourist and at the same time trying to provide an image of protecting the islands from further ruin. The Galapagos Islands has reached a stage when employing extremely stringent measures can help to save the exotic and rare varieties of flora and fauna from further ruin and destruction. There are four ways in which the government can lessen down tourism in this island. They are as follows: 1. First, the government can levy high taxes for tourists entering the Galapagos islands. They can keep a plethora of taxes which may include a seaport entry tax, extra taxes applicable on travel and tourism related services like a tourist may have to pay an exorbitant sum of money to avail of any tour packages in the Galapagos Islands. Other than this, doubling or quadrupling the entry charges to view the attractions found in the Galapagos Islands is another strategy to bring down tourism. 2. Secondly the Ecuador government must provide stringent measures to curb tourists from entering the exotic islands. This can be done by refusing to offer tourist visas to all people willing to enter this island. They can suspend issuing such visas for a temporary period of time for people to stop entering this island. 3. Thirdly, the government can also cancel newly applied accommodation licenses and other tourism related services like upcoming travel agencies in the Galapagos Islands. The lesser the accommodation the lesser will be the influx of tourists and this will also help to keep a check on the migrants. 4. Lastly, the Ecuador government should try and establish farming as an alternate source for earning revenues. It needs to encourage the local community to engage in marine farming as an alternative option to earn revenue. Breeding and promoting a variety of fish will help the local community to export marine products internationally. It should provide funds and other miscellaneous assistance in order to set up marine farms in the Galapagos Islands so as to facilitate people to change to an alternate means of livelihood. The above four strategies suggested are extremely drastic and may lead to a series of chaos and conflicts between the local community and the government. Here comes the integrating the stakeholders and the local community to convince them that such measures are needed to save the wide variety of flora and fauna. The island needs a charismatic and an honest leader who can plan and effectively implement strategic tourism management and integrate the above mentioned forces to unite to save their land. Instead of the government levying such strictures, it is best that the entire world wakes up to face this problem and understands the need to be cooperative and have the willingness to get together to save this archipelago. The tourism operators should divert people to some other destination, prices should be enormously hiked up to curb tourists, most accommodations provided should cease to exist and in a bid to protect ecotourism people should preserve the forest and nature and not usurp into these lands. All these efforts will help to save this archipelago. References: Unesco.org, 1978. “Galapagos Islands”. Retrieved on 24 April, 2011 from http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1 The Observer, 2008, October 12. “Tourism curbed in bid to save Galapagos haven”. Retrieved on 24 April, 2011 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/oct/12/galapagosislands-travelnews Sheldon, Pauline, J. 2005, October. “The Challenges to Sustainability in Island Tourism”. Retrieved on 24 April, 2011 from http://www.tim.hawaii.edu/ctps/Sheldon_Challenges_to_Sustainability.pdf The Christian Science Monitor, 2009, April, 19. “Saving the Galapagos means rebuilding nature. Retrieved on 24 April, 2011 from http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2009/0419/p07s02-wogn.html Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, 2011. “Defending Galapagos”. Retrieved on April, 28, 2011 from http://www.seashepherd.org/galapagos/ Read More