Galapagos Conservation Trust

When you book your Galapagos holiday with us your are helping to conserve the Archipelago’s future.

We offer a complementary one year membership to the Galapagos Conservation Trust to all our Galapagos travellers.

The Galapagos Conservation Trust (GCT) is the only UK registered charity to focus exclusively on the conservation and sustainability of the Galapagos Archipelago.

Science, conservation, education and sustainability are focal points of their work, with the vision that the challenges faced by the Galapagos Archipelago can best be addressed using a holistic approach.

Funds support conservation projects in Galapagos, helping to contribute to the overall management of this unique ecosystem.

Galapagos Conservation Trust news: challenges, successes and plans

Unfortunately, the marine life of Galapagos continues to face threats such as over-fishing, illegal fishing and plastic pollution. But research is being undertaken, in collaboration with partner organizations and researchers, to gather more data and secure greater protection for biodiversity.

Galapagos Conservation Trust is also seeing the results of its increased political campaigning and will continue to provide advice directly to the Ecuadorian government. Only 4 short years ago, the issue of plastic was barely acknowledged but the Ecuadorian government is now very aware of GCT’s work, particularly on plastics.

However, it is still critical that marine protection in Galapagos be strengthened. A major milestone was the establishment of the Hermandad Reserve in January 2022, extending the GMR by 60,000km².  But, according to Galapagos Conservation Trust, “protected areas also need science-informed management plans to enhance species recovery, protect sustainable livelihoods, and improve waste management, and managers need to have the capacity and tools available for monitoring, surveillance, and impact tracking. This is the approach we are helping to drive for Galapagos.”

The Trust has been collaborating the Galapagos National Park and other partners looking into and tackling the plastic pollution in the Archipelago. As a result there is a Plastic Pollution Free Galapagos programme, which is a multi-million pound, multi-year project, feeding into larger projects attempting to tackle pollution in the wider Eastern Pacific region through the Pacific Plastics: Science to Solutions Network. 

Andean Trails donates £500 a year to the Galapagos Conservation Trust.

Read more on Galapagos Conservation Trust their website.