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Special Report |
LAST UPDATE August 27, 2007
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| May 1, 2007 |
Reviving the Galapagos Forest Project |
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| Peace Boat participants arrive at the Galapagos Islands |
The Galapagos Islands were formed over three million years ago from volcanic activity. They are situated over 1000 kilometers from any mainland, and plants gradually came to the islands via the sea, wind and animals. Through isolation, the plants in the Galapagos have evolved in a very different way to those found on the mainland, and as a consequence the islands are rich in endemic species. |
site design imagesparkle.com |
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| Koichi Fujiwara at the Reviving the Galapagos Forest Project site |
There are currently over 500 plant species, of which 180 are indigenous to Galapagos. Since this archipelago was discovered, people have brought with them animals and plants for purposes such as food, medicine and building materials. As a result, indigenous plants have been overtaken by introduced species – the greatest threat to these bio-diverse oceanic islands. |
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| Reviving the Galapagos Forest Project |
Koichi Fujiwara, a photojournalist based in Japan, is on the executive committee of the Japan Association for Galapagos (JAGA) and joined the 56th Global voyage as a guest educator. Peace Boat and JAGA are working together on a project to repopulate the forests of the islands with indigenous plants. As part of the ‘Reviving the Galapagos Forest Project,’ 90 Peace Boat participants, from as young as 19 to some into their mid-80s travelled with Mr Fujiwara to the Galapagos Islands. |
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| Sophia Swanson, a volunteer Communication Coordinator (interpreter), replants an indigenous species at the project site |
After arriving, the head researchers of the Charles Darwin Research Center met with participants to talk about the problems caused by introduced plant species to the indigenous flora. Not all introduced species pose a risk to indigenous plants, but some are invasive for example the guava, passion fruit, mora and cascarilla. These foreign plants are controlled by using pesticides and cutting them down to control them. After hearing about these problems, each participant had the opportunity to replant indigenous Scarlatia trees.
www.j-galapagos.org (Japanese) |
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