The Galápagos Islands

The Galápagos Islands are unique. Due to the geographical isolation, a very special flora and fauna could evolve over millions of years on the volcanoes. Giant tortoises, Galápagos fur seals, flightless cormorants, sea iguanas and Darwin finches as well as many plants such as the Scalesia Trees occur only on Galápagos. If we do not succeed in preserving this habitat, these species will be lost forever.

The Galápagos Islands were discovered by the Spanish Bishop Thomas de Berlange in 1535. They became famous 300 years later through the visit of Charles Darwin. His theory of evolution is based on observations he made during his five week stay on the archipelago.

Galápagos is a province of the Republic of Ecuador and lies on the equator about 1‘000km West of the South American coast. During the centuries after their discovery, pirates, whalers and fishermen used the islands as hide-outs and anchorages.They brought domestic animals and plants with them. Rats, goats, pigs, cats, ants and plants such as Guava, Citrus, bamboo and avocado were introduced to the islands. The imported species spread rapidly causing great damage. They still threaten the existence of many endemic species.

In 1934, the Ecuadorian government passed the first laws to protect the threatened species.

In 1959, following IUCN/UNESCO reports on the precarious state of the endemic species, the international Charles Darwin Foundation was founded. The Foundation runs the Research station on the island of Santa Cruz. At the same time, the Ecuadorian government recognized the unique value of the islands and designated 97% of the land area of Galápagos as a national park. The rest may be cultivated.

In 1979, the UNESCO declared the archipelago as a World Heritage Site.
On 13th December 2001 the UNESCO declared the Galápagos Sea Reserve a World Nature Heritage, so giving world-wide recognition to the 130'000 km2 reserve, which was designated in 1998 and is the second largest in the world after the Barrier Reef in Australia.

On 26 June 2007, the World Heritage Committee today inscribed the Galápagos on UNESCO's List of World Heritage in Danger with a view to mobolizing support for their conservation.

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. This increase has fuelled a growth in immigration and the ensuing inter-island traffic has led to the introduction of more invasive species.

The first Director of the Charles Darwin Research Station was Swiss, and Swiss researchers have always worked on the islands.

The Swiss Association of Friends of the Galápagos Islands was founded to support the work of the Charles Darwin Research Station.