What an adventure this has been. I have hiked, flown and sailed in Charles Darwin’s footsteps, uncovering and exploring the magical Galapagos Islands. I’ve seen sea lions play, green sea turtles graze, marine iguanas sun, and giant tortoises plod. I’ve heard whales sing and hawks screech, I’ve trekked through forests made of giant daisies and blackened volcanic moonscapes where life still eeks out a living.
I have experienced the
incredible variety of plant and animal life that evolution creates. I saw how
every nook and cranny of our world is home to something wondrous, something
unique, something irreplaceable. I’ve seen how diverse and inventive life is,
how, through evolution, it rises to any change or challenge, taking a
bewildering, fantastical variety of forms.
I’ve also seen how, from the huge giant tortoises to the tiny Galapagos land snail, every indigenous animal here plays an essential role in the wider ecosystem. How all of life, human or non-human, vertebrate or invertebrate, plant or animal, is interconnected and mutually reliant. I’ve caught a snapshot of the great wheeling cycle of life, where each organism is born, lives, reproduces and dies, each generation making way for the new, each generation slightly different from the last, constantly changing, constantly evolving.
Charles Darwin called these islands “a little world unto itself”, and he was
right; there is nowhere else on Earth like the Galapagos. The great
naturalist’s words remind us how fragile and precious this all is. How when we
think of these islands, where almost every native species is unique to this
little world, we must accept a vital fact: once it’s gone, it’s gone
forever.
If sea levels continue
to rise, if plastic continues to flow into the ocean, if invasive species
continue to outcompete natives, and if climate-change-related extreme weather
events continue to batter the coastline, we will see a mass extinction event in
the Galapagos, and the biodiversity will never return. These islands are in
peril of becoming a bare rock, a peril that grows every day that we prioritise
endless economic growth in a finite world, constant waste and excess over clean
oceans, and, ultimately, our short-term greed and convenience over a rich,
biodiverse, livable planet.
But there is hope.
Organisations such as the Galapagos Conservation Trust, in collaboration
with the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galapagos National Park Directorate,
are working tirelessly to rewild, combat pollution, protect vulnerable species
and teach locals and tourists about sustainable ways to enjoy this amazing
place and its wildlife. Away from the islands, fearless campaigning by
environmental activists is winning more and more victories every day, arguing
for oil to be kept in the ground, a reduction in income inequality, and strict
sanctions to be placed on polluting industries, turning the tide and forcing
governments to adopt the net-zero strategies promised in the 2015 Paris
Agreement.
The sun is setting now, and an all-aboard call rings out from the boat that will spirit me home. I cross the gangplank and take one last look at the small family of sea lions lounging around a bench on the pier. I wave to them, thanking them for their hospitality, and then head below deck, eager for a rest and a chance to look back on my memories of the Galapagos, evolution’s greatest experiment.
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