A collaboratively derived environmental research agenda for Galápagos

Abstract

Galápagos is one of the most pristine archipelagos in the world and its conservation relies upon research and sensible management. In recent decades both the interest in, and the needs of, the islands have increased, yet the funds and capacity for necessary research have remained limited. It has become, therefore, increasingly important to identify areas of priority research to assist decision-making in Galápagos conservation. This study identified 50 questions considered priorities for future research and management. The exercise involved the collaboration of policy makers, practitioners and researchers from more than 30 different organisations. Initially, 360 people were consulted to generate 781 questions. An established process of preworkshop voting and three rounds to reduce and reword the questions, followed by a two-day workshop, was used to produce the final 50 questions. The most common issues raised by this list of questions were human population growth, climate change and the impact of invasive alien species. These results have already been used by a range of organisations and politicians and are expected to provide the basis for future research on the islands so that its sustainability may be enhanced.

"Agua para Galápagos": un programa de monitoreo de la calidad del agua en las islas Galápagos

“…1) Infraestructura: implementación de sistemas de almacenamiento de agua superficial para el sector agrícola, construcción de un reservorio y un sistema integral de alcantarillado y agua potable para barrios como Bellavista, Puerta Ayora y El Mirador [27]. 2) Política pública: los fondos invertidos abordan el desarrollo de estrategias efectivas para el uso sostenible del recurso en actividades relacionadas con la agricultura [28], y una solución sostenible para reducir el impacto en el suministro de agua causado por una demanda creciente con la instalación de medidores de agua [29].…”

Identifying Shared Strategies and Solutions to the Human–Giant Tortoise Interactions in Santa Cruz, Galapagos: A Nominal Group Technique Application

“…Considered a largely pristine "living laboratory", Galapagos was declared a UNESCO World Heritage in 1978. The unique marine and terrestrial wildlife and ecosystems have been the center of conservation research and conservation success for over five decades [76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83]; however, governance and management issues that threaten the biodiversity and sustainability of the islands remain [84][85][86], and research priorities such as population growth, climate change, novel pathogens, and invasive species control have been defined as critical to improve the social-ecological fit of conservation strategies in Galapagos [87]. The conservation of Galapagos giant tortoises (Chelonoidis spp) has been largely successful due to a huge reduction in hunting, the eradication of invasive species such as goats and pigs from much of the archipelago, and captive breeding and reintroduction [79,[88][89][90].…”

“…It seems that farmers have a clearer recollection memory of extreme climatic conditions and other significant events (e.g., prolonged drought, floods, and increased temperature) that have caused disturbances in their productions [123][124][125]. These events are well known to limit the agricultural productivity in Galapagos [87]. In fact, a drought in 2016 severely impacted farmers in Galapagos, suggesting that many of them are well aware about climate change [126], and that is a possible reason climate change was highly voted by our participants in this NGT-Q2 application.…”

Phosphate sorption‐desorption properties in volcanic topsoils along a chronosequence and a climatic gradient on the Galápagos Islands

“…Additionally, the volcanic slopes show distinctive moisture gradients from arid lowlands to very humid highlands. This gives the opportunity to study the factors parent material age and climate side by side in a study area with low human impact, as the archipelago had no human settlements until the early 20th century (Izurieta et al., 2018), and 97% of the terrestrial area is currently protected as a national park (NPDG, 2014). The four inhabited islands (Isabela, Floreana, Santa Cruz, and San Cristóbal), however, witnessed a dramatic increase in human activities in the last decades, including intensification of agriculture.…”