News

On 28 January the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) presented its 2009 Annual Report and Flagship Initiatives for 2010 at Quito's Botanical Garden. Representatives from major local, national and international institutions were in attendance.

Environment Minister, Marcela Aguinaga, and Dr Lopez

During the event, Dr. J. Gabriel Lopez, CDF's Executive Director, highlighted the foundation's achievements during 2009, as well as the new conservation and development challenges facing Galapagos.

Dr. Lopez reported that as an integral part of facing these challenges, in 2010 the Foundation will further strengthen its three flagship programmes launched in 2009. These include measuring the "human footprint" in the archipelago, better understanding the impacts of climate change in Galapagos to inform decision-making on adaptation, and furthering its comprehensive restoration of Floreana Island at the southern end of the island chain.  Dr Lopez also emphasised the importance of "working in a coordinated manner with Ecuadorean government agencies, academic centres of excellence, local actors, and the private sector for the conservation and sustainable development of Galapagos."

In his address, CDF Board President Pablo Iturralde Barba, brought attention to the importance of the Foundation's volunteer and scholarship programme, through which more than 1,100 young people from Galapagos and continental Ecuador have been trained at different stages of their careers. Many have continued their education, graduating with master's degrees and doctorates, and are now working in high-level positions in Ecuador and abroad.

CDF also launched a new "Partners for Galapagos" campaign that aims to bring together public and private enterprise in support of the organization's vital conservation efforts in the Galapagos archipelago.

In the early hours of Sunday 28 February, following the previous day's massive Chilean earthquake, the Ecuadorian authorities advised people to evacuate Puerto Ayora because of a fears of a tsunami.

According to the Charles Darwin Foundation's Executive Director, Dr. J. Gabriel Lopez: "We assembled all staff, volunteers and becarios who live on the station within 10 minutes and drove to Bellavista as advised by the authorities.

"We were among the first evacuees to arrive in Bellevista but eventually the vast majority of the population of Puerto Ayora made their way there. Shops quickly ran out of water, other liquids and breads and snacks. Upon receiving the all clear we returned to the Station at 0830".

As of Monday morning, UK time,  the sea is reported to be behaving oddly with quickly rising and receding tides of about one metre every 15 minutes. However there is not thought to be any serious risk.

2009 was an exceptional year for both GCT and our support for Galapagos and we are delighted to share with you just some of the highlights.

The Darwin celebrations and 50th anniversaries of the Galapagos National Park (GNP) and Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) created a real opportunity to raise GCT's profile, put Galapagos conservation firmly in the spotlight and so secure much needed funds for conservation in the Islands. With help from our members and supporters we are delighted to tell you that we achieved all three. For more details on the following please click here .

We all know that conservation costs money. That is why our greatest success has to be the 28% increase in the funds we raised to help save Galapagos - over £680,000 in all.

A new £400,000 research fund (in addition to the figure cited above) to create a lasting link between Galapagos and Cambridge University. This was thanks to a highly successful fundraising dinner attended by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, shown here, held at Darwin's alma mater, Christ's College.

A fantastic start for Project Floreana, the first plan to restore an inhabited island in  Galapagos. GCT raised over £150,000 in year one of this five year programme, including close to £50,000 to help save the Floreana Mockingbird, Darwin's inspiration and one of the world's rarest birds. Project Floreana remains one of our priorities for 2010.

We would like to thank every single one of you for helping us make 2009 our best year ever.  With Galapagos still on the list of World Heritage in Danger we cannot afford to stop. Please help us to make 2010 even more successful for Galapagos' long term future, by making a contribution towards our 15th Anniversary Appeal.

The Galapagos National Park Service (GNPS) and the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF), with support from local and foreign volunteers, have resumed a sea turtle monitoring program that measures a range of data related to the nesting season of this species.

The monitoring process has made it possible to record the number of females who come to deposit their eggs at popular nesting sites throughout the archipelago, assess the reproductive success of the species and its population status. Additionally, the program is observing the effects of human activity on sea turtle populations.

For the past seven years, the CDF has coordinated sea turtle monitoring. The GNP is now leading this process.The Galapagos are one of the main nesting sites of the green turtle Chelonia mydas. The species' survival is being threatened by fishing (the tortoises are often caught as bycatch), egg collection in regions outside Galapagos, and the negative effects of climate change on nesting sites. Global efforts are being made to assist the recovery of this species, and the GNPS is coordinating the conservation of these reptiles in the Galapagos archipelago.

An Australian ladybird on the Galapagos Islands is succeeding in controlling the invasive cottony cushion scale (Icerya purchasi). This is according to results of work carried out by scientists Mark and Christina Hoddle of the University of California, Riverside, and Roy Van Driesche of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in cooperation with Charlotte Causton, adjunct at the Charles Darwin Foundation, CDF staff, the Galapagos National Park Service, and the Galapagos Inspection and Quarantine System (SICGAL) during the last three months of 2009.

While work is still ongoing, data collected during the first phase of the study suggest that the mariquita or Vedalia beetle, an Australian ladybird (Rodolia cardinalis) has survived and spread, while suppressing the cottony cushion scale on many native Galapagos plants, including the white mangrove, Acacias, and Scalesia. However, there are several plant species still being affected by the cottony cushion scale, and further study is required to determine why the mariquita is not effective on these host plants. In addition to being effective, the project has been safe, as no evidence from field observations or the large cage studies was found of attack by R. cardinalis on non-target insects.