SOUTH AMERICA | ECUADOR
Ecuador's Galapagos Islands deemed in danger by UNESCO
The World Heritage Sites in Danger list attempts to mobilize support for conservation.
The first site to be placed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List is now on another UNESCO list—and this one’s not good.
This week, at a meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand, the UN’s World Heritage Committee added the Galapagos Islands to its list of World Heritage Sites in Danger. (Also added to that list: Niokolo-Koba National Park in Senegal.)
The islands, some 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, are famous for their easy-to-approach wildlife—tortoises, birds, iguanas and more—that has evolved in different ways because of their isolation from the mainland and other islands in the chain.
“The 19 islands of the Galapagos and their surrounding marine reserve have been called a unique living museum and showcase of evolution,” the committee said in a statement. “They are threatened by invasive species, growing tourism and immigration. The number of days spent by passengers of cruise ships has increased by 150 percent over the past 15 years, for example.”
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