To Tour or Not to Tour—Should An Environmentalist Visit the Galapagos?
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York 
on 12. 1.08
Photo by Pete Oxford
From a die-hard ecologist's standpoint, the unequivocal answer is simple:
No.
Tourism invites hordes of people to trample over the delicate island ecosystems, the ever-growing industry attracts migrant workers to join an already unsustainable population which combined with the gaggle of visitors usurps the Galapagos' limited resources. Not to mention the extensive fossil fuel-frying air travel you'll most likely have to undertake to get here.
And yet—show me a naturalist who claims he wouldn't love to see firsthand the rampant biodiversity that inspired Darwin, and I'll show you a flaming-pants liar.
Herein lies our conflict.
An Ideal Galapagos
I've been receiving comments (some angry-seeming) on my series of dispatches from Galapagos with suggestions like only scientists should be allowed entry, and I'm a sicko for walking on the beaches with sea lions. According to that argument, I suppose the 40,000 residents on the islands would leave, a team of super-scientists would arrive to eradicate all the non-native species, and the island would return fully to its singular grandeur under their watchful eyes.
Suffice it to say that this is infeasible.
No, tourists will continue to arrive by the boatload for the foreseeable future—but under certain conditions that's not necessarily bad news for Galapagos.
Sustainable Tourism in Galapagos?
This line of thought stems back to a point made by Professor Arturo Keller, of the Bren School for Environmental Science and Management: it's all about finding a balance between access and protection. The tourist industry on Galapagos generates huge sums of money for the Ecuadorian economy—and that depends directly on there being pristine islands around to visit. Thus, Ecuador has a major economic incentive to regulate the behavior and amount of tourists allowed onto the islands and to maintain sound environmental policy. Of course, that's easier said than done.
There are currently so-called restrictions to the number of tourists allowed into the island every day, though nobody can produce an actual figure for how many that actually is. And at the moment, most of the money generated by tourism doesn't actually end up in the Galapagos, where it could potentially benefit conservation programs or resource allocation solutions—instead, much of the revenue goes to the cruise ship and hotel owners, who live mostly in mainland Ecuador.
A proposed solution is to increase a Galapagos-specific tourism tax that would directly go to funding for the islands.
Galapagos on a Guilty Conscious
For the time being, an environmentalist visiting the Galapagos could do lesser deeds to better the island during his stay—charter all boats from local Galapagueno businesses, spend money at non-profits like the Charles Darwin Research Center http://www.darwinfoundation.org, and conserve water at all costs.
Of course the super-scientist scenario would be ideal for the preservation of the island, but pending proper regulation enforcement, a careful influx of tourists may actually end up providing the very funding needed to adequately protect the Galapagos.
So from a measured pragmatist's standpoint, the answer is more complex:
Yes. But go cautiously.
30 of the top teachers in the US are making a trek from the Florida Everglades to the Galapagos Islands in order to engage a series of global conservation issues in the Toyota International Teacher Program. I'm traveling alongside the educators to report on what we discover about the threats and wonders on modern day Galapagos.
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Flying seattle to galapagos dumps 12,000 pounds of greenhouse gases into our future...per person. There is no way anyone can do that level of climate damage for a vacation and even pretend to be an environmentalist these days. "bright green denier" is the new term for that level of inattention.
If you can get there by bus and boat, i say go for it. have a real adventure.
For a convention of teachers from the US, no. It would have been a better idea to stay closer to home.
For a holiday of a lifetime, yes. Even environmentalists need to lift their heads from the cloud of everyday life to remember why you live the life you do.
I got a question for ya:
Have you already been to all the wilderness areas of north america (accessible by train/car/bike) such that you now have nowhere to go except far flung and delicate places like the Galapagos?
I'll hazard a guess...NO.
Tell you what, little mister, tour this geographic region FIRST. It encompasses almost every type of climate found on the planet. It encompasses MILLIONS of square miles. It includes thousands of plants/animals/insects that you have never seen. It requires NO FLYING.
Such blatant entitlement mentality. Ignore the vast riches literally at your doorstep because your frivolous and A.D.D. mind can't just calm down and "smell the roses". Pitiful.
I visited the Galapagos a year ago with GAP tours. GAP leads small groups and is very vigilant about being eco-friendly. While any tour through the islands will have some impact on the environment, a lot can be done to be mitigate the effects with a little responsibility. The real problem I see is with the influx of residents to the islands. People are leaving the mainland looking to make some tourist dollars. As of last year, I was told that almost 30,000 people live on the islands and they are having trouble controlling the population. The inhabitants of the islands have garbage laying about in some instances, have cut down trees for pasture land and have built fences in many areas.
I think some folks on here need to chill out a little and think about the complexity of the situation. Without tourism, there is very little incentive for Ecuador to preserve the island. Unless you want to lobby their government to stop tourism, ban foreign animals and residents, and protect the island against development against their economic interest anyways, then we need to be thinking about how tourism plays a role in protecting the island.
Tourism needs tighter regulation and as mentioned a tax to be directed specifically at island preservation would help, but to take it away all together, I fear would ultimately result in more harm then good.
Travelling to the Galapagos to spread a "green" message is just the pot calling the kettle black.
It's extremely hypocritical to be an "environmentalist" who travels extensively all over the world. I'm sorry to say it, but unless you have a solar powered plane, then you have no right telling others what their impact is on the planet. Someone else mentioned fragile habitats we have here at home that need more exploration, and are vastly underestimated. Tourism is a venture to make money and nothing else. If you live in Ecuador educate the citizens there on the Galapagos. Travelling to the Galapagos and being "educated" does not make you "green". Going on a vacation does not make you green, even if it is educational. Tourism there is probably going to have a more harmful effect on the environment.
I'm so tired of environmental propaganda who are so self-entitled to do as they please, while telling everyone else what they should and shouldn't do with their lifestyles.
I think that you should travel to the Galapagos Islands, in fact anybody who likes and respect nature should do it! It is a unique place in the world not to be missed by erroneous thinkings.
There are actually 20,000 people living in Galapagos (not more not less) There is also a $100 tax called the National Park Entrance fee that goes directly to the Galapagos Islands. According to last regulations nobody else can go and live in Galapagos in fact all those who are not residents are being shipped back to Ecuador.
So the Islands are taken good care of by the National Park and by the Scientists of the Charles Darwin Station, and the travel companies must follow strict regulations.
Don't listen to pessimistic and false comments that the islands are in danger and bla, bla, bla. Tourism has been going in Galapagos for 40 years already and they are still there with the same unique animals and flora and environments. People must have the right to travel all around the world (to where they please) to see the beauty of this planet.
If Galagueno is the adjectival word to describe things of the Galapagos, is Galapaguano the word used to describe all the local bird poop? ;)