11 seconds ago 2009-12-04T13:30:03-08:00
QUITO, Ecuador – Tourism and an increasing number of Ecuadoreans living on the ecologically fragile Galapagos Islands are harming the famed archipelago, Ecuador's environment minister said Tuesday.
Ecuadoreans living on the islands, 625 miles off Ecuador's Pacific coast, have posed an "innumerable problems," including "immense pressure" on natural resources, Ana Alban told Channel 8 television.
She said that tourism must be regulated because local authorities are constantly seeking to increase the number of tourists there. The Galapagos Islands are Ecuador's biggest tourist attraction. They are known for their unique flora and fauna, including marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies and giant tortoises that live up to 150 years of age. The islands, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
