The Galápagos Islands

Reduce Emissions of CO2 by:

• Reducing energy consumption as much as possible for both electricity and fuel.

• Installing alternative fuel sources such as solar heaters for water or solar power generators.

• Promoting sustainable carbon offset initiatives, accommodations, restaurants, and other services to tourists as a means of reducing their carbon footprint.

Ensure Tourism Development Accounts for the Impacts of Climate Change

• Avoiding habitat degradation and pressure on water resources

• Taking into account increasing coastal erosion and storm events when setting up new developments.

• Ensuring that new infrastructure and practices do not harm critical marine habitats, such as kelp and mangroves that help reduce the extent of coastal erosion.

• Paying attention to changing rainfall patterns and water resource needs to ensure that developments are not impacting critical marine ecosystems that are also being affected by climate change.

Minimize and Eliminate other Stresses on Marine Habitats

Other impacts on species reduce their ability to survive the changes that climate change will bring to the region. It is therefore critical that these other impacts be minimized such as:

• Pollution (through dumping of wastewater, garbage, or other waste)

• Destruction of habitat (such as through anchor impacts on corals, or divers damaging corals or kelp)

• Intensive fishing which removes species critical to the survival of the whole ecosystem

Educate Others on Climate Change and its Impacts on the Galápagos Islands

• Educate visitors about the effect of climate change on the Galápagos Islands.

• Include information about climate change and ways to minimize its impacts in welcome packages for tourists.

• Support conservation projects which provide benefits of climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods.

• Build the business case for improved practices, and identify potential incentives to encourage better practice among key suppliers.