Climate change refers to long-term changes in global weather patterns, including rising temperatures.
The main cause of modern climate change is the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, largely driven by human activities such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation. These gases trap heat, leading to global warming.
As the planet warms, natural systems are affected – ice melts, forests are ravaged by wildfire, and oceans warm up – which further accelerates global warming. These changes are already affecting ecosystems and wildlife around the world.
Climate change is one of the biggest threats facing the world’s biodiversity. If current trends continue, rising temperatures and more frequent extreme weather will put increasing pressure on ecosystems, pushing many species towards extinction. While global efforts rightly focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the most urgent priority, we must also protect the natural systems that help to regulate our climate. Coastal ecosystems such as mangroves and seagrass store vast amounts of carbon (known as ‘blue carbon’), and healthy populations of large marine animals such as whales and sharks can also help to maintain ocean processes that lock up carbon over the long term.
El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon which occurs approximately every seven years, involving the cycle of warm and cold temperatures. The Galapagos Islands are situated at the confluence of major ocean currents – the cool Humboldt Current from the south, the warm Panama current from the north and the cold upwelling Cromwell current, which surfaces to the west of the Archipelago. The Islands are also home to a large number of endemic marine species which aren’t found anywhere else. Changes in ocean temperature, even if only slight, can have devastating effects on the wildlife populations in Galapagos.
El Niño affects the marine life of Galapagos in a powerful way, as it changes population numbers of almost all species in Galapagos in a short space of time. The slowing of the Humboldt current means the sea temperatures rise, reducing the growth rate and the abundance of algae and seaweed, the staple food source for many sea creatures, particularly the marine iguana. While some species are able to migrate away from the Islands to find food, others cannot. Birds like the flightless cormorant and the Galapagos penguin struggle to find food. Not only are they threatened by starvation, but they also stop reproducing. Climate change will also inevitably impact Galapagos’ communities, their livelihoods and the productivity of Ecuador’s commercial fisheries, and an over-reliance on tourism and imports means that the local economy is vulnerable to global shocks.
Models produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2019 indicate that although climate change will likely result in a reduction in fishing catch around Galapagos over the next 40 years, it will probably not be as severe as in the rest of the Eastern Tropical Pacific region, such as along the coast of South America. Therefore, as climate change and overfishing contribute to the collapse of fish populations elsewhere, there has been, and will continue to be, an increase in the fishing intensity surrounding the relative sanctuary of the Galapagos Marine Reserve. Fisheries contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions and cause a myriad of environmental impacts throughout the entire supply chain, but these impacts have not been comprehensively investigated.
Climate change also has a strong effect on land-based creatures. As rainfall increases dramatically during an El Niño year, tortoise eggs in nests can be washed away, leaving fewer hatchlings. While this increase in rainfall is beneficial to the plant life of Galapagos, some species end up waterlogged, with collapsing cacti common during an El Niño year. The warm and wet conditions also provide the ideal conditions for many invasive species to thrive, such as the parasitic avian vampire fly, Philornis downsi.
The monitoring of climate change within Galapagos is extensive, with teams of scientists and researchers from all over the globe measuring and tracking weather patterns and animal behaviour.
Improving our understanding of the true impacts of both long-term climate change and short-term changes from El Niño events on these vulnerable species and their ecosystems is critical for informing future conservation management. Looking to the future, continued climate change is predicted to affect El Niño frequency and strength, meaning that this could contribute towards the extinction of several species. It is essential that we continue to track and monitor these effects, and that we support efforts to ensure that both communities and wildlife in Galapagos are resilient in the face of climate change.
By making a regular donation to GCT, you can help to scale up nature recovery and preserve the unique biodiversity of the Galapagos Islands for many generations to come.
