Since 2021, GCT has been helping to drive the Co-Galapagos initiative, aiming to promote CO-llaboration, CO-operation and CO-ordination between communities, policy makers and researchers to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Agenda in Galapagos. Co-Galapagos is an initiative launched in 2021 by King’s College University of Cambridge (represented by Dr Sophia Cooke) and local NGO, Fundación un Cambio por la Vida (FUNCAVID).
40
SDG targets prioritised for Galapagos
5
community-led projects completed in 2022
12
paid internships for local young people delivered in 2022
The local economy in Galapagos has become over-reliant on tourism, which accounts for more than 80% of income. Tourism took a huge hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, rippling uncertainty across the community that depends on it as a source of income. The increase in the human population on the Islands has also led to overcrowding in towns and places huge pressure on social services, particularly education, healthcare, water provision and waste management. Additionally, levels of gender violence are high, as well as inequalities between different communities.
GCT and our Co-Galapagos partners recognise that economic diversification, catalysed by sustainable development, is essential for improving the resilience of Galapagos’ communities and wildlife to future shocks. For change to be effective, it must be accepted by the local community, so supporting community project ideas is key. However, historically, very little funding has been available for local people in Galapagos to take their ideas for conservation and sustainable development forward. Actions to improve socioeconomic issues often also directly support biodiversity protection, but these are typically treated as separate topics across research, policy and funding.
Not only does Co-Galapagos work to increase the efficiency of sustainable development, but by channelling funding for this work directly through the community, it also supports inclusivity and local capacity-building.
The Co-Galapagos initiative puts the local community at the heart of conservation and sustainable development action in Galapagos. We support pioneering community leaders to advance 40 prioritised UN SDG targets in harmony with biodiversity conservation. Together we are strengthening local capacity to drive projects addressing pressing social, economic and ecological issues – building skills, access to funding and a collaborative network to achieve optimum impact. Project results are synthesised to generate policy advice to amplify the work and voices of the community, particularly under-represented groups such as women and youth, representing a platform for change. Co-Galapagos also provides a local internship scheme, providing paid opportunities across communications, policy, research and sustainability and conservation projects, primarily for recent graduates on or returning to the Islands.
Our vision for Co-Galapagos is to achieve an equal, inclusive Galapagos society which develops in harmony with nature and is the primary custodian of its natural heritage. We aim to contribute to a culture of co-responsibility and shared commitment in the care and management of the natural and social heritage of Galapagos. Communities can lead the Islands towards a low carbon economic model, where endemic species are protected and conserved, while issues of social inequality and injustice are combatted, and models of governance and participatory dialogue are sustained. In achieving this, Galapagos can provide the world, and especially other high-tourism island nations, with an example of how to provide economic resilience whilst tackling social justice and environmental issues.
Learn more by visiting the Co-Galapagos website and find out which community projects currently need funding.
"Highland communities, including farmers, suffer from severe water scarcity on Santa Cruz island."
This project will run trials of rain and fog harvesting technology to reduce farmers’ reliance on tankers delivering freshwater from the lowland town of Puerto Ayora.
