Past and present of conservation in the Galapagos Islands

From the Master Plan to the current Integrated Managment Plan for the Galapagos PAs

Master Plan for the Protection and Use of the Galapagos National Park in its beginnings - 1973

Looking into the past, we find several critical moments in the history of Galapagos. First, the relevance that the islands took after the visit of Charles Darwin escalated to a global level, when his work 'The Origin of Species by Natural Selection' was published. After this milestone, there have been several in the history of Galapagos that have been decisive in the present and especially in the future of the archipelago. And among these milestones are count the laws, rules, regulations produced for the benefit of Galapagos and its inhabitants.

After the creation of the Galapagos National Park (GNP) with Executive Decree N-17 of the Republic of Ecuador, on July 4, 1959, began a differentiated treatment of the islands based on a concept and a principle that proposed to plan human activities in Galapagos, considering its high ecological value. As a result, 97% of the land area of the archipelago was declared a National Park and became the first protected area in the country. In this sense, the first Master Plan for the Protection and Use of the Galapagos National Park (GNP), developed in 1973, was presented as the first regulatory instrument to describe rules governing the development and management of the GNP.

Since the creation of the GNP in 973, the need for the first territorial planning for the management and development of the province was defined (see Figure 1. Scanned map of the General Development Plan for the Galapagos National Park). This instrument was generated following a request from the FAO Regional Office represented by Dr. Bertram Husch and UNESCO by Dr. Peter Kramer in November 1972, in coordination with the Government of the Province of Galapagos and members of the Planning Board. In addition, other institutions such as the Department of National Parks and Wildlife, National Planning Board and other Regional Experts collaborated.

It is at this point that the concept of differentiated use of spaces (or "zoning") is integrated, which can be described as a step in the land- use planning process. In this process, zones are defined with a determined use and an adequate management for each one of them. Thus was born the "Master Plan for the Protection and Use of the Galapagos National Park - 1973" where it is defined for the first time that the main source of income for the Province of Galapagos was. The GNP, i.e., visitation activities in this area are described as the major source of economic income for the province.

Figure 1. Map of Proposed Zoning, General Development Plan - Galapagos National Park

This 'Storymap' is one of a series of publications that connect knowledge t h r o u g h free access to our GeoOpenData CDF website. This edition of the Storymap illustrates in summary the Master Plan (1973) and how, already in those years, it proposes to land the concept of conservation and development, on a spatial basis taking into account the geographical scheme of the islands (Map 1), as a means to regulate, regulate and control human activities to be developed by the growing Galapagos human population, through a concept of zoning.

Given the importance of the economic income received from the payment of the entrance fee to the GNP, the Master Plan for the Galapagos National Park was prepared to maximize its use and it is in this document where the Master Plan for the Galapagos National Park was born and framed as a control tool for the development and management of the spaces and resources of the Archipelago in an orderly manner. It should be emphasized that a number of assumptions were made in order to establish visitor capacity and management. A highlight of this document is the notion of flexibility that the authors were able to include in their approach to the proposed planning and the need for annual review. This dynamic and variable approach within an early context of a developmentalist era, allowed the integration of a thinking about an 'infinite nature', which gradually gave way to imagine the islands not only as an object of admiration for its Edenic characteristics, as stated by Vasco (Galapagos in the literature, 2012), but also sees the archipelago already as an object in transformation, and the ways to make them comfortably habitable and limitlessly exploitable. In addition, this plan did not focus solely on the richness of terrestrial flora and fauna, but also included the recommendation to protect a marine strip of 2 nautical miles around each island.

The zoning proposed in 1973 was spatially organized into four classes:

Map 1. Master Plan for the Protection and Use of the Galapagos National Park

  • (I) Visitor's Area;
  • (II) Primitive Zone;
  • (III) Restricted Zone; and
  • (IV) Special Use Zone.

From the Organic Law of the Special Regime of Galapagos (1998) to the New Special Law (2016)

Chronology of the establishment of areas of use of the Galapagos Islands

From 1974 to 2013 there were five progressive revisions and adaptations of planning for the GNPS (1984, 1996, 2005 and 2013). Meanwhile, the Marine Reserve (GMR) had its first planning in 1992, without this plan having been executed, and a subsequent one in 1999, which was in force until the 2015 Plan was issued.

Following is a chronological exposition of important events in the management of the Galapagos Islands:

Chronology of Land Area Planning and Management

The history of the systematic management of the Galapagos National Park dates back to 1974, when the first Management Plan for the area was published, which was, at the same time, one of the first documents of its kind to be prepared for a protected area in Latin America, setting a precedent of leadership in the management of protected areas that the GNP has been able to maintain since its inception. In 1984 the second Management Plan was published. Management. After ten years of application, a thorough evaluation was considered necessary, with a view to updating and adapting it to reality, and seeking to obtain a working instrument that would be in force for at least the next six years (1990), before being thoroughly revised once again. In 1988, an attempt was made to update the Plan. The result was a ratification of what was stipulated in the 1984 document.

In 1991, by Executive Decree No. 2707, the Permanent Commission for the Galapagos Islands was created, initiating its activities with the development of the "Comprehensive Plan for Tourism Management and Ecological Conservation of Galapagos". In 1992 the Management Plan for the Galapagos Marine Resources Reserve (RRMG) was published, a document that sought to regulate activities in the Galapagos Islands the Reserve. Zoning was proposed that defined the permitted uses, as well as specific rules and regulations for each economic sector that could develop in the waters of the archipelago. However, the lack of funding, of consensus and, above all, of political decision to define clear mechanisms and administrative responsibilities for the RRMG, has meant that, in practice, the Plan has not been implemented. As a result, in September 1994, in an expanded workshop with the participation of all sectors involved, it was decided that a total revision of the RRMG Management Plan was necessary.

Chronology of Marine Zones Planning and Management

On the other hand, in 1996, a new update of the GNPS Management Plan was carried out, this document was designed using methodological tools for protected area management available at the time. Among these, it is worth mentioning the methodology developed by Cifuentes in 1992 to determine the tourism carrying capacity of visitor sites. Indicators were included for each site in accordance with the reality of Galapagos, the which could be evaluated as part of a long-term monitoring program to determine their current status and, based on the results, adjust their management.

In 1997, to develop the Conservation and Sustainable Use Management Plan for the Galapagos Marine Reserve, a Core Group was formed and worked for 15 months with facilitation, totaling 74 meetings, 2 workshops and 2 Fishing Summits. Within a historical context of antagonism, lack of organization and representation of the different user groups, in addition to a perceived incompatibility of use of the Marine Reserve, the situation related to the management of the Reserve changed radically from conflict to consensus and collaboration.

As a result, the Galapagos Marine Reserve was created in 1998, with the establishment of the Special Regime Law, and the current management system is an example of a policy that integrates the participation of the users of the marine protected area with the administrative body, in this case the Directorate of the Galapagos National Park. The current management system is the product of a complex process that allowed the consolidation of a participatory management model, allowing users through representatives of the tourism, artisanal fishing, science and conservation sectors, to be part of decision-making in partnership with the managing body. This case is presented as an interesting management experience, whose instances of participation reached levels of institutionalization never seen before in the management of marine protected areas. The administration of the Marine Reserve has two duly institutionalized decision-making levels: a local participation level and a higher institutional decision-making level.

In 2013, the Galapagos National Park and the Galapagos Marine Reserve, as part of the State Natural Area Heritage (PANE), are considered to be interdependent and provide a myriad of benefits and services to their populations. Therefore, the Management Plan of the Galapagos Protected Areas for Good Living for the management of these two protected areas is presented in a dynamic, coherent and integrative manner. It deepens the functionality and interdependence of its terrestrial and marine ecosystems, but it also focuses on the need to integrate the communities living in the Archipelago into its management.

Therefore, the plans of the GNP (2005) and the GMR (1999), were considered as different elements of the terrestrial and marine parts; until they were updated and integrated for the first time in a single planning instrument through the Management Plan for the Protected Areas of Galapagos for Good Living (2014). Consequently, both marine and terrestrial zones were updated and delimited, which are reflected in 2017.

Zoning of the Galapagos National Park - 2017

The Marine Reserve of the province of Galapagos, is subject to the category of Marine Reserve, multiple use and integrated administration, according to the classification found in the title of legal reforms of this Law. The integrity of the Marine Reserve includes the entire marine area within a band of forty nautical miles measured from the baselines of the Archipelago and inland waters, as stated in Executive Decree No. 959-A of June 28, 1971, Official Register No. 265 of July 13, 1971.

The Special Regime Law for the Conservation and Sustainable Development of the province of Galapagos, establishes the legal administrative regime to which the agencies of the dependent sectional regime and the autonomous sectional regime are subject, as appropriate; human settlements and their related activities such as health, education, sanitation and basic services, among others; conservation activities and sustainable development of the province of Galapagos and the area that constitutes the Galapagos Marine Reserve.

The Galapagos National Park Directorate (GNPD) states on its website that the ecosystems of the islands cannot survive without the protection of marine and coastal environments. Many native and endemic species depend entirely on the sea and the evolutionary and ecological processes that occur on land, but are directly related to the sea. Penguins, cormorants, sea lions, albatrosses and countless birds live on land, but feed exclusively from the sea. In the ecosystem of the Marine Reserves more than 900 species have been reported, of which 25% of marine organisms are endemic. There are 24 species of marine mammals such as whales, dolphins and sea lions, of which 2 are endemic. The following is a brief timeline of the main land-use planning efforts that have been presented for the protected areas of the islands.

The Galapagos National Park, in its terrestrial portion, covers approximately 7,970 square kilometers. . Additionally, the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR) has an area of 138,000 square kilometers. Currently, the declaration of the new marine protected area attached to the GMR, the Brotherhood Marine Reserve (MBR) adds 198 thousand square kilometers to the marine areas with protection in the open waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone of Ecuador (EEZ). This new reserve connects with the Cocos Island National Park, Costa Rica's, and thus contributes to the extension of the Eastern Tropical Pacific of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (PET). In this way, this large corridor of marine protected areas in this region becomes one of the largest in the world.

The current Zoning System of the Galapagos National Park (see map 2.) is organized spatially based on three zones, defined according to a gradient of conservation and intensity of use of their ecosystems:

Map 2. Zoning of Galapagos - 2017

  • (a) Absolute protection zone;
  • (b) Ecosystem conservation and restoration zone; and
  • (c) Impact reduction zone.

Two types of elements that are managed in the form of a network are linked to these three zones: (a) the Network of sites for ecotourism public use (blue dots on map 2); and (b) the Network of sites for special public use (blue polygons in map 2.). For each of these zones and networks, permitted and non-permitted uses are defined, as well as the rules to be complied with by users (i.e., rules of use) and the rules to be developed by the GNPS (i.e., control rules, monitoring, etc.).

Comparison between the Master Plan - 1973 and the GNP Zoning - 2017

Thanks to the technological capabilities of ArcGIS geographic viewers, a comparative map between the zonings in question is presented. In the map (map 3. Comparison of the 1973 zoning and the current zoning), 50 years of changes in conception between the land use planning of the 1970s that were held for the land areas of the archipelago are evident.

It is possible to highlight the types of land use proposed historically and their current similarities, the change of the inhabited areas, and it is also worth mentioning the interests of those times, such as the eradication of certain wild species that caused significant damage to the ecosystems of the islands.

Map 3, Comparative, Zoning Master Plan - 1973 vs Zoning Galapagos- 2017

Figure 2. Comparison of Zones established between 1973 and 2017

As reflections to what is presented in this Story Map, it can be established that, as shown in Figure 2, where the uses of each zoning are presented with their comparable to the time, and how currently the areas have increased towards visiting and extractive activities. Referring exclusively to the terrestrial part, the following points of comparison can be highlighted:

  • As of 2017, there is evidence of a better delimitation and an increase in the number of zones.for its management, use and control.
  • The current 1973 Restricted and Intangible zones are comparable according to their use. There is evidence of a reallocation in 2017, mainly in the northern part of Isabela.
  • It is observed the increase of the Inhabited Zone or occupied by human activities both in the urban and rural part, adding a new Zone of Sustainable Use to carry out similar activities.
  • In addition, 22 sites of interest were identified in 1973. tourist sites within the archipelago, while by the year 2022 there will be a total of 210 visitor sites;

Almost 50 years after the creation of the first regulatory tool of the GNPS, the Master Plan, the difference of an orderly and clearer zoning, with limits established according to scientific and geographic criteria, can be observed. These changes have been due to several factors such as the increase in tourism demand and population growth within the archipelago, in addition to the advance of technology applied to nature conservation, highlighting the important role of regulated land management through the evolution of mechanisms for the protection, conservation and use of the land area of the islands.


Bibliography

  • Directorate of the Galapagos National Park Marine Reserve. https://galapagos.gob.ec/reserva-marina/
  • Vasco Aguas, M. D. (2012). The Galapagos in literature.

Figure 1. Map of Proposed Zoning, General Development Plan - Galapagos National Park

Chronology of Land Area Planning and Management

Chronology of Marine Zones Planning and Management

Figure 2. Comparison of Zones established between 1973 and 2017