The new marine reserve in the “enchanted islands” would add to the “more than 130,000 square kilometers of its waters that are a protected marine reserve.”
The president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, offered this Monday at COP26 the creation of a new marine reserve of 60,000 square kilometers in the Galapagos Islands in exchange for the “largest debt-for-conservation swap ever made in the world.”
“This decision by Ecuador will cause financial proposals to be made to swap debt for conservation. We estimate that it will be the largest amount (…) that has been made so far in the world,” Lasso said at a press conference during the UN conference against climate change held in the Scottish city of Glasgow.
The Ecuadorian leader explained that his government is studying “some proposals”, but is also analyzing other forms of financing.
In the #COP26 we announce a new marine reserve in Galapagos. It is about 60 thousand km2, which is added to the existing one, with the following characteristics:
30 thousand km2 of non-fishing production area
30 thousand km2 of no longline area#EcologicalTransition#GalapagosProtected– Guillermo Lasso (@LassoGuillermo) November 1, 2021
“There is the possibility that the country itself can, with the support of multilateral credit organizations, carry out this exchange so that all the benefits are placed in a trust where the only beneficiary is the Ministry of Environment, Water and Transition. Ecological, “he indicated.
Lasso added that “the idea is to build a financial institution that allows the ministry to have resources in perpetuity with a single objective: the perpetuation of these marine reserves.”
The new marine reserve in the “enchanted islands” would add to the “more than 130,000 square kilometers of its waters that are protected marine reserves” and where “95% of the registered species are unique in the world.”
To this must be added the Galapagos National Park, which has “an area of 8,000 square kilometers and is considered by experts as the archipelago of volcanic origin in the best state of conservation in the world.”
The new reserve will have 30,000 kilometers of non-production fishing zone located on the Cocos mountain range and 30,000 kilometers of non-longline located at the continuation of the marine reserve in the northwest and “will also serve as a living laboratory for the development of scientific research ”.
The president of Ecuador assured that the announcement is “the result of five months of dialogue with the artisanal fishing sectors and also with the industrial fishing fleet so that they understand, as they have understood, the importance of expanding this marine reserve by 60,000 kilometers. squares and the great potential of the world’s largest debt-for-conservation swap ever. “
“The fishing sector has understood the benefits for themselves” with a greater abundance of biomass “in the medium and long term” in the areas outside that future reserve, he added.
The money raised by Ecuador with its proposal will be invested “” in basic infrastructure works at least in the three main islands of the Galapagos archipelago “with” potable water and sewerage projects to the main islands. “
Located about a thousand kilometers west of the continental coasts, the Galapagos are one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world and in the past all kinds of initiatives have been considered for their conservation.
“The natural wealth of Ecuador is recognized throughout the world; although we are a country with only 256,000 square kilometers, we are one of seventeen megadiverse countries, with 9.2 species per square kilometer,” added Lasso, who stressed that “Galapagos It is considered by many the jewel in the crown of Ecuador “.
Lasso will hold a multilateral meeting with the president of the United States, Joe Biden, during the UN climate summit; the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. (I)
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