MIT
Mission
2008
Team
Website Public
Policy
Matthew
Cons
mcons@mit.edu
ig5
Week in review....
So each group gave presentations last friday. It was definetely very
informative, but i wish i had learned more about the particular
islands, especially the bigger ones. I suppose I wanted to know
more about the people there, and more of what they were going through
and what there general attitude was.
We broke up into 3 main groups, according to objective. There are also
overlapping presentation groups and web site design groups. I might be
interested in the presentation group, but I will see how it progresses.
So I was assigned to look up information on the World Wildlife Fund
(WWF) and the Galapagos Darwin Trust (GD). Information is
abundant on the WWF, since its an international organization with a
clearly defined mission statement. The GDF is very small and
information is very hard to find on it. I've had more luck on yahoo
than on the databases. But I will continue.
updated: 11/12/04
So this past week, the group has
decided more specifics on public policy to get a general feel of the
priorities for our island that will be more important when section
meetings come. Laura and I spent this past Saturday conducting
research, wrting, and putting up the public policy website. We
went through 3 books that were on reserve for our class in the library,
mostly to fill in any gaps that we felt we had. The books were a lot
more helpful than I thought they would be considering they are mostly
outdated. We were reading and writing for about 3 hours at the
humanities library. Then, we went elsewhere to edit and basically
revamp the entire public policy website. I learned a lot about how to
put up websites and html in general. The site took a long time because
there was some tedious work that had to be taken care of. But
eventually, everything appears to be very nice, and I'm happy with the
way progress has gone for us and our group.
Updated on Halloween.
In our group
meeting today, we came to a consensus
about certain public policies regarding the islands. We agreed that no
residents would be allowed on the island of Espanola.
Preservation
of this island was the main reason for our decision. However, we will
allow
tourists and scientists on the island. On Floreana, where about seventy
people
reside, the question of immigrants will be left for our next meeting.
Will
relatives of residents be allowed to move onto the island? Will
citizens of Ecuador
be able
to move for possible job opportunities? Will people from other
countries be
able to migrate? Questions about what kind of preservation jobs will be
offered
to residents were brought up at this meeting as well.
More research...The Special Law of the Galapagos of 1998
The Special Law of the Galapagos
of 1998 provides a huge
lift for the preservation of biodiversity. It includes a “precautionary
principle”
which requires one to implement a policies that are least likely to
hurt the
environment. It also provides reform to the INGALA
(Instituto Nacional Galápagos), which is the main coordinator of
policies for
the Galapagos Islands. It also sets
up marine
reserves around 40 miles of the Galapagos Islands.http://www.darwinfoundation.org/articles/n5900049816.html
The law was challenged
by the ATUNEC, the tuna fishing industry, in the courts,
however
it was overturned.
http://www.gct.org/special.html
The INGALA
is responsible for providing financial as well as technical help to
state
agencies. They must facilitate projects that help to conserve the
environment,
regulate tourism and development.
The law
defines three types of residents: permanent residents, temporary
residents, and
tourists. Tourists are not allowed to stay longer than ninety days or
participate
in any profit making activities.
The
law
also specifies educational procedures that must take for any and all
public
officials staying on the Galapagos Islands.
http://www.galapagos.org/members/SpecialLaw.html
updated 10/18/04
Research
continues to be the most important aspect that I have done so far in
the Mission. I have looked online through different
journals and visited the library to look through some of them also. The discussion brought up during the
information session about the many groups with special interests was
particularly
interesting. I did not realize entirely
how high the tension was between various groups. But
going back on my research, I see that the
fisherman and park rangers are particularly at odds with one another. Because I am working on public policy, a
compromise on the preservation strategy as a whole will be required to
appease
the two groups. I understand that the
fishermen
have a vital interest in quotas on their catches and how it can affect
many of
their lives. I will certainly take that into account as well as the
important
of the endemic species, particularly marine life in this case, of the Galapagos Islands.
I will
continue to do research to learn about what kind of political
coalitions
between countries exist and how they operate in order to put together
an
appropriate international organization to manage the Islands.
In
addition, the team has suffered a few setbacks as we deal with the loss
of team
members whose research we depended on. We’ll all have to step up to
make up for
it. But I think we can do it.
Updated 10/13/04
The tourism industry, which as been growing rapidly over the past few
decades,
have put an increasing pressure on the workforce. According a study
conducted
by J Teyler and several other scientists, an approximate 10% increase
in
tourism causes an approximate 5% increase in the workforce of the Islands (1). This could explain the increase in the
number of inhabitants over the years. Ecotourism, a form of industry
now pushed
by many governments dealing with sensitive ecological regions, has had
a
particular effect on the Galapagos
Islands.
Emilio IzQuierdo, speaking for Ecuador
in the United Nations, stated that one of the problems of the Galapagos
were
the increasing human population on the islands (2). The population of
the
Galapagos has doubled from 1980-1990 (3) and as of 2000 has about
71,500
inhabitants (2).
Because of the Galapagos's
massive
marine life, fishery has become a huge industry in the area. Of course,
this
has been at the expense of the marine life. There have been many
different
quotas established for the different marine life for the fishing
industry.
However, as the number of fisherman increases, the quota remains
constant.
Thus, each fisherman is able to catch less each year. Fisherman have,
on many
occasions, taken up arms and inhibited governmental work as a form of
protest against
the quotas. In December of 2000, lab employees hid in mangrove swamps,
fearing
angry fisherman (4). Political unrest continues to grow, even recently
with the
firing of the conservationalist Director Edwin Naula, and the
replacement with
a more pro-fishing ideology, Mr. Cepeda (5). More than 300 park rangers
find a
very important stake in the conservation effort of the Islands,
for they have striked peacefully against the firing of Mr. Naula. Many
people
believe that the fisherman have gotten there way by utilizing threats
and
violence. For example, fisherman had rioted to open a quota on Sea
Cucumber
until the government finally agreed (6). The Ecuadorian government
opened the
quota against the recommendation of the National Park.
1.
Economic
Development and Cultural Change. Chicago: Jul
2003. Vol. 51, Iss. 4; pg. 977
2. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/1997/19970626.GA9270.html
3. Futurist, May/Jun92, Vol.
26 Issue 3, p6, 1/8p, 1 illustration
4.
Science. Washington: Dec
15, 2000. Vol. 290, Iss. 5499; pg. 2059, 2 pgs
5.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/09/13/international2257EDT0750.DTL
6. http://www.seashepherd.org/galapagos/galapagos.html
Here is a couple pages of unedited
research.
updated: 10/03/04
Along with
Laura, I volunteered to do the section on public policy. This will
consist of
economic conditions, national concerns, and international concerns that
will
help Ecuador keep
the
richness of the Galapagos Islands
real. Considering
Ecuador’s economic
situation, there will be great difficulty for Ecuador
to maintain the vastness of the biodiversity on the Galapagos Islands. As a result, international
relationships with all
countries, developed and developing states will be vital to the success
of the
preservation of the islands. I predict that I will need to do research
on the
existing relationships between such states and international
organizations,
including the UN, the International Monetary Fund, and the like. In the
future,
I think I will need to come up with ways to improve relationships that
would
benefit every party’s interests. Since scientists from different
countries
travel to study the Galapagos Islands,
those
countries should help, to the best of their ability, maintain the value
of such
islands.
As we work
continue to work through the weeks, our group will have to share
information
amongst each other. Communication will be very important to complete a
coherent
report.
Currently, I am taking notes on
research of the
topic.
updated: 09/26/04
MIT
Mission
2008
Team
Website Public
Policy