The Galapagos Island is formed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean around 972 km west of continental Ecuador. This island is, in fact, geologically young but ecologically being very unique to this particular geographical area. It is reach with a few of the species that are most likely to develop in an island due to its geographical isolation. The Galapagos are famous as the site where Charles Darwin observed its flora and fauna and devised the theory of evolution. It remains one of the most fragile ecosystems on Earth (Bob Kalish 2008). However, today the Galapagos face different kinds of threats. Men with his immense innovative and productive techniques have brought about developments and changes to this gem of an Island. This country has responded positively to the efforts made by people to increase their income by supporting the tourist industry, thus, increasing even the revenue of the country considerably. While the Galapagos develop swiftly in its life style and infrastructure, UNESCO put this country on its list of Heritage Sites in Danger last year. The move was intended to raise awareness about the need for conservation and protection of its rare ecology. Eliecer Cruz, governor of the Galapagos and former director of the Galapagos office of the World Wildlife Fund, has made conservation and protection of the islands' unique wildlife a priority. He told ABC News that, far from being offended by UNESCO's warning, he is pleased (Kofman and Woo 2008).
A fact on the pace of the development and the preservation of the Island is that the country which owns the Galapagos is not the most stable country. Since Darwin's arrival in 1835, the Galapagos have been called a "living laboratory of evolution" because of the extraordinary creatures found only on these islands. Now, the locale population is almost thirty thousand and hosting more than a hundred and fifty thousand tourists a year without a proper sewage program. This statistic just gives enough notification to the learner about the danger the country is heading towards due to the developments which are done with very little foresightedness. Charles Darwin centuries ago exclaimed about the natural in habitats of the Island saying “The naturalist, looking at the inhabitants of these volcanic islands in the Pacific, distant several hundred miles from the continent, feels that he is standing on [south] American land. Why should this be so? Why should the species which are supposed to have been created in the Galapagos archipelago, and nowhere else, bear so plainly the stamp of affinity to those created in [south] America?” (Darwin 1859). In a way it was a place where time seemed to have stopped. The setting was primeval, the creatures fantastical. Relatively untouched and endlessly fascinating, the Galapagos Islands were a dream destination for any one who loved the nature genuinely. Man in his quest for developing this island to be a productive one, he has got to keep a relationship with natural systems of the island. There needs to be a genuine balance between the natural processes and the human activities. There are institutional, financial, environmental and technical factors to consider in the course of change. The eventual decision to use no fissile fuels can be significant step in improvement of the preservation indented by all the well wishers of the natural habitat. The President of Charles Darwin foundation explains the future expectation one can build on the sensible approach towards the islands. He says that the cooperative relationship of the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galapagos National Park, a partnership of over 40 years, proved even more important as Galapagos struggled to recover. In addition to the oil spill mitigation and monitoring work that will become a regular part of the conservation agenda in Galapagos for the foreseeable future, the Park and Charles Darwin Research Station continue to focus their efforts on the science and management critical to protecting this extraordinary place (Jhonnaha Barry 2001).
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