page_title: Galápagos Islands
section_title: Environmental protection policy
hierarchical_section_title: Galápagos Islands / Environmental protection policy
caption_attribution_description: Galapagos Penguin juvenile (Spheniscus mendiculus), Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Image taken by Clark Anderson/Aquaimages.
context_page_description: The Galápagos Islands, part of the Republic of Ecuador, are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed on either side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere. Located 906 km west of continental Ecuador, the islands are known for their large number of endemic species that were studied by Charles Darwin during the second voyage of HMS Beagle. His observations and collections contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by means of natural selection.
  The Galápagos Islands and their surrounding waters form the Galápagos Province of Ecuador, the Galápagos National Park, and the Galápagos Marine Reserve. The principal language on the islands is Spanish. The islands have a population of slightly over 25,000.
  The first recorded visit to the islands happened by chance in 1535, when Fray Tomás de Berlanga, the Bishop of Panamá, was surprised with this undiscovered land during a voyage to Peru to arbitrate in a dispute between Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro. De Berlanga eventually returned to the Spanish Empire and described the conditions of the islands and the animals that inhabited them.
context_section_description: Though the first protective legislation for the Galápagos was enacted in 1930 and supplemented in 1936, it was not until the late 1950s that positive action was taken to control what was happening to the native flora and fauna. In 1955, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature organized a fact-finding mission to the Galápagos. Two years later, in 1957, UNESCO, in cooperation with the government of Ecuador, sent another expedition to study the conservation situation and choose a site for a research station.
  In 1959, the centenary year of Charles Darwin's publication of The Origin of Species, the Ecuadorian government declared 97.5% of the archipelago's land area a national park, excepting areas already colonised. The Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) was founded the same year. The core responsibility of CDF, an international nongovernmental organization (NGO) constituted in Belgium, is to conduct research and provide the research findings to the government for effective management of Galápagos. CDF's research efforts began with the establishment of the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island in 1964. During the early years, conservation programs, such as eradication of introduced species and protection of native species, were carried out by research station personnel. Now much of that work is accomplished by the Galápagos National Park Service using the research findings and methodologies developed by CDF.
  In 1986, the 70,000 square kilometers (27,000 sq mi) of ocean surrounding the islands was declared a marine reserve, second in size only to Australia's Great Barrier Reef. In 1990, the archipelago became a whale sanctuary. UNESCO recognized the islands in 1978 as a World Heritage Site and in 1985, as a biosphere reserve. This was later extended in December 2001 to include the marine reserve.
  In July 2010, the World Heritage Committee agreed to remove the Galápagos Islands from its list of precious sites endangered by environmental threats or overuse.
  Noteworthy species include:
  Galápagos land iguanas, Conolophus spp.
  Marine iguana, Amblyrhynchus cristatus, the only iguana feeding in the sea
  Galápagos tortoise (Galápagos giant tortoise), Chelonoidis nigra, known as galápago in Spanish, it gave the name to the islands
  Galápagos green turtle, Chelonia mydas agassisi, a subspecies of the green turtle
  Galápagos racer, Pseudalsophis biserialis,  an endemic species of snake with two subspecies
  Sea cucumbers, the cause of environmental battles with fishermen over quotas of this expensive Asian delicacy
  Flightless cormorant, Phalacrocorax harrisi
  Great frigatebird and magnificent frigatebird
  Blue-footed booby, Sula nebouxii, popular among visitors for their large blue feet which they show off in courtship
  Galápagos penguin, Spheniscus mendiculus, the only living tropical penguin
  Waved albatross, Phoebastria irrorata, the only living tropical albatross
  Galápagos hawk, Buteo galapagoensis, the islands' main scavenger (at the top of the food chain) and "environmental police"
  Four endemic species of Galápagos mockingbirds, the first species Darwin noticed to vary from island to island
  Thirteen endemic species of tanagers, popularly called Darwin's finches. Among them is the sharp-beaked ground finch Geospiza difficilis septentrionalis which is sometimes called the "vampire finch" for its blood-sucking habits, and the tool-using woodpecker finch, Camarhynchus pallidus
  Galápagos sea lions, Zalophus wollebaeki, closely related to the California sea lion, but smaller
  Two endemic genera of cacti, each with a single species: Jasminocereus thouarsii, the candelabra cactus, and Brachycereus nesioticus, the lava cactus
caption: Juvenile Galápagos penguin before banding
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