A sustainable environment is one where the land, the plants and the animals (together known as an ecosystem) are able to live in a balanced way.

How can we become more environmentally sustainable?

Natural resources, such as wood, can be used by human beings in order to build homes and other structures. In Galapagos, if people were to keep chopping down trees for wood until all the trees in the area were gone, we would call this behaviour ‘unsustainable’. If the people wanted to act in a ‘sustainable’ way, they could think about only cutting down mature (adult) trees, and every time a tree is removed, at least one more could be planted. This would mean that in the future, the new trees will have grown and will also be able to provide the people with wood. The people could also make sure they only cut down the trees that are needed, instead of cutting down every tree and then deciding what to do with the wood. This way the animals and birds of Galapagos (such as Darwin’s finches) that rely on the trees for shelter and food can continue to thrive.

Electricity is an important necessity for homes in this day and age. To reduce the amount of damage we cause to the environment (see our chapter on Renewable Energy), we can aim to generate electricity in ways that work with nature rather than against it. For example, we could invest in new renewable energy sources such as solar or hydroelectric power rather than rely on fossil fuels that release harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. All these damaging fossil fuels also need to be transported to the Islands, meaning a risk of oil spills into the fragile marine ecosystem (see our blog article on Recent Ship Groundings).

Why is Environmental Sustainability important?

If we don’t think about the environment when we make decisions, it might become so damaged that it would be impossible to repair and restore. In Galapagos, the scalesia forests help to absorb harmful carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. We also have to consider that if we continue to damage the Islands, would tourists still want to visit? This could effect the businesses of people who rely on tourists coming to the Islands (such as hotels, restaurants and tour guides).

Case Study: The Scalesia Forests of Santa Cruz, the Galapagos Islands

The unique nature of the Galapagos Islands means that their environment is highly vulnerable to the unsustainable actions of human beings. One example of this happened on the island of Santa Cruz, at the centre of the Archipelago.

In the early 1970s, Santa Cruz had a forest dominated by Scalesia, a type of tree that can only be found in Galapagos (they are endemic). There are fifteen different types of Scalesia that can be found in Galapagos and these trees can grow to be around 12 metres in height. They create a thick canopy which shades the lower forest levels from light, heat and heavy rainfall, protecting the soil from erosion.

Scalesia pedunculata © Patricia Jaramillo and Charles Darwin Foundation

In 1982, there was very harsh weather in the Galapagos Islands caused by what is known as an El Niño event. For eight months, heavy rains fell on Santa Cruz and almost all the adult Scalesia trees died. In the following two years, Santa Cruz experienced the opposite weather conditions, known as La Niña, with drought and poor rainfall. There was little sign of the forest making a recovery back to its condition back in the 1970s.

With little competition, the space left by the trees became a new home for introduced species. The Common Guava, Psidium guajava, was introduced to the Galapagos Islands in 1870 for food. Around the same time, Spanish Cedar, Cedela odorata was planted as a source of timber. Both have now spread throughout the Islands, taking over the Scalesia forest areas.

By 2007, very few Scalesia trees remained in the forest of Santa Cruz. Now, new species such as Himalayan Hill Raspberry are making their way into the forest and changing the ecosystem again. Although human beings could not control the timings of the El Niño and La Niña extreme weather events, the impacts on the Scalesia forest were made worse by the unsustainable actions of people who brought the introduced species to the Islands, leaving the Scalesia forest with little chance to grow back naturally.

Conservation projects are now at work to reforest areas of the Galapagos Islands with their native Scalesia trees.

Himalayan Hill Raspberry © Galapagos Conservation Trust

The Galapagos Islands are rapidly changing and it is becoming more important that sustainable solutions to the issues that these changes raise are found.

Land zoning in Galapagos

Isolation is the key to the special nature of the Galapagos archipelago. Because human colonisation in Galapagos did not occur until relatively recently compared to the majority of the rest of the world, the unique ecosystems have been preserved and species have survived. However, population increase and urban expansion means that land zoning of areas for human use and rules for the use of the zones has become necessary.

Prior to 1959, the protected areas and unprotected areas were considered to be completely seperate and not connected. There was no real difference in the management of the human and natural space. When the Galapagos National Park was established in 1959, 97% of the Islands were declared protected natural areas. The remaining 3% of the land is used by Galapagos communities (both rural and urban). The new zoning model recognises that hazards such as invasive species and pollution come from populated areas and that the populated areas depend on the unique ecosystems and their conservation, demonstrating the interconnectedness of the zones.

Why do small islands face unique challenges?

The Galapagos Islands share common problems with many other islands around the world. One of these problems for the future is climate change. Locations like Galapagos are more vulnerable to climate change due to their isolation, their reliance on the sea for income and the shape of their land which can be low-lying and susceptible to rising sea levels. There are a number of ways that locations like Galapagos can try to protect themselves from such issues:

• Mitigation is where action is taken that will make an outcome less severe. For example, in a residential area that may be affected by rising sea levels, a sea wall or permanent fixture might be built to protect the homes from floods.
• Adaptation is where change might be unstoppable, but action is taken to help us survive the change. For example in the same residential area affect by rising sea levels, homes can be raised up on ‘stilts’ so that flood water does not damage people’s homes.

Houses on stilts in Nueva Venecia, Colombia © Augusto Sisa

Case Study: The Galapagos and Climate Change

An impact assessment carried out by the Galapagos National Park and a variety of NGOs found that there were six ways in which the Galapagos Islands would be vulnerable to climate change in the future:

1. Warmer sea temperatures.
2. Greater intensity of El Niño and La Niña events (more extreme weather).
3. A rise in sea level.
4. Increased precipitation.
5. A more acidic ocean.
6. A reduction in the cold water current upwelling which brings nutrients to the ocean surface.