Success
The Galapagos is inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List, a listing of places considered unique in the world. The List is extremely selective, and as of 29 June 2002 consists of 730 properties (563 cultural, 144 natural and 23 mixed properties).
After nearly placing the Galapagos on the danger list, UNESCO now tentatively considers this Site as a successful example of concerted action to safeguard a jewel of humanity.
Text from UNESCO website
The unparalleled scientific interest of the Galapagos islands as a natural laboratory of evolution prompted the government of Ecuador to designate them as a National Park in 1959 and UNESCO to place them on the World Heritage List in 1978.
 Such prestigious recognition alone, however, did not suffice to protect the site from the pressures and incursions of the modern world and nearly twenty years after its inscription on the List, the integrity of the area appeared threatened by three major factors: accelerated human settlement accompanied by the importation of foreign animals and plants, uncontrolled fishing, and tourism.
While the government of Ecuador wrestled with other urgent problems in recent years, the situation swiftly declined. Introduction of new species, depletion of existing ones, disruption of the environment all tended to eradicate the singular qualities which made the islands a vast natural laboratory for biologists studying ecosystems, species and gene-pools, and thus a precious source of information concerning - to coin a phrase - the origins of species and the descent of man.
By 1995, finally, things had reached a point where the UNESCO World Heritage Committee announced that it might have to put the site on the World Heritage in Danger list. This particular procedure, UNESCO takes pains to point out, does not amount to finger-pointing (at either the Ecuadorian government or the management of the Islands) but rather offers the advantage of focusing the attention of all states parties to the World Heritage Convention on the problem while implying that they must be ready to share the costs of preserving the site.
It was suggested that this inscription become effective on 15 November 1997 unless there were clear signs of progress. The imposition of this deadline contributed to focus the attention of the Ecuadorian government on the matter. By the spring of this year, the latter informed Bernd von Droste, Director of the World Heritage Centre, that it had created a Ministry of the Environment in the preceding year. The new minister was Mrs. Flor de Maria Valverde, a biologist who has studied the flora and fauna of the Galapagos and professes a strong commitment to the conservation of the site. The minister, in turn, appointed a special Commission and entrusted it with the drafting of a Special Law for the Islands. Dr. Gunther Reck, a well known conservationist and fisheries biologist who is also a former director of the Charles Darwin Station (an emanation of the Charles Darwin Foundation located in the Islands) was put in charge of coordinating the work of the Commission while a Decree promulgated on 29 April 1997 by President Rivera, will allow the government to manage the situation until the law has been written and voted in parliament.
One of the purposes of this law will be to control the demography of the Islands, ultimately reducing it by two per cent. Meanwhile, says the newly appointed minister of environment, an ongoing campaign has significantly reduced the population of such animals as goats (some 30,000 of these were eliminated from one island alone), and wild pigs (reduced, on the Island of Santiago, from more than 5,000 to 100). Tourism too, will be more strictly regulated and a moratorium will exclude the deliverance of new permits for cruise ships until the year 2005. Illegal fishing turns out to be a tougher nut to crack and even the wardens can occasionally become the targets of violent acts (a park warden was shot and wounded this year). Such acts, the minister points out, "reflect the rise in aggressiveness surrounding fishing activities and the powerful economic interests that are at stake."
These various initiatives, stemming from the World Heritage Committee's show of concern two years ago, may fairly soon provide the islands with the protection they so urgently need. The Ecuadoran government has been requested to provide annual progress reports. This success is all the more remarkable since the Committee is constantly navigating the perilous waters on the fringes of national sovereignty and has no power to enforce its recommendations - only the power to persuade.
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