Responsible travel is our most important commitment.
At Think Galapagos our aim is that each holiday we organise should generate positive change.
We want to play our role, however small, in trying to address the global biodiversity crisis by ensuring all the holidays we organise actively leave the wildlife and habitats that you visit with more protection and support. We also ensure all our holidays support the local communities you visit.
Ecuador is the most biodiverse place on earth relative to its size. Like everywhere on earth, the biodiversity of Ecuador is in crisis in particular through deforestation. In Ecuador it is difficult to get accurate figures of deforestation, but according to the Ministry of the Environment, between 1990 and 2018 – over 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) of forest were lost in Ecuador.
The unique and pristine ecosystem of the Galapagos Archipelago also faces numerous threats, most notably from invasive species, over fishing, climate change, pollution in the form of water, air plastic and soil and the lack of sustainable development for the human population in the islands.
“We cannot protect something we do not love, we cannot love what we do not know, and we cannot know what we do not see. And touch. And hear.” – Richard Louv.
We believe that responsible, well managed nature-based tourism has a vital role to play in protecting nature. The reality is that most decisions about how land and resources are used – for logging, agriculture, industry or nature – are financial. By creating value in economic terms, responsible nature-based tourism can bring employment opportunities for local communities and economic incentives and benefits to the conservation of nature.
In the Galapagos Islands well managed tourism can provide an alternative to extractive industries like fishing. In mainland Ecuador it can provide an alternative to agriculture (see Santa Lucia for a particularly inspirational example of this) and in the Amazon, places like Sani Lodge and the Napo Wildlife Centre that are 100% community owned and run have helped ensure the conservation of the forest areas around them.
Biodiversity itself is incredibly important for the processes that support all life on earth, including humans. As well as harming biodiversity our damage to the natural environment is also impacting climate change. Nature in the form of our forests, oceans, grass lands, peat bogs and healthy soils absorb 50% of human created carbon emissions each year. When these disappear, it damages nature’s ability to respond to and regulate greenhouse gasses and therefore intensifies the effects of climate change. To have any chance of meeting our climate targets we must ensure that we prioritise protecting nature.
We ensure we work with locally owned, responsibly managed tourism operations in Ecuador, Galapagos and Peru where possible. Responsible, sustainably managed tourism also means a better more authentic experience for our guests.
We support conservation charities and organisations that make a difference. Think Galapagos are long term supporters and an official tourism partner of the Galapagos Conservation Trust which works to mitigate the conservation challenges faced by the islands. For each UK based guest that books we will include a one year membership of the Trust (no cost to you for this, it is covered by us).
For every holiday we organise we calculate the carbon footprint of our services. Rainforest Concern then help us calculate how much standing forest we need to protect to ‘balance’ that. We then use that money to support the permanent protection of cloud forest in Ecuador in an area of exceptional biodiversity. (more details below and in our blog on this subject)
We also use our knowledge to help support new community based ecotourism projects. Since 2019 Think Galapagos founder Rachel Dex has worked on a project in Colombia to support the development of ecotourism projects in areas of exceptional biodiversity. Rachel is part of a team that also includes Royal Botanic Gardens Kew together with a local organisation in Colombia funded by UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions). More details below and also in our blog post about our work here.
All holidays booked with Think Galapagos directly contribute to and advance the protection of habitats and wildlife in Ecuador and Galapagos. We are long term supporters of Galapagos Conservation Trust and the charity Rainforest Concern‘s work in protecting the exceptional biodiversity of Ecuador’s cloud forests.
For each guest that travels with us to Galapagos we make a donation to UK charity Galapagos Conservation Trust on your behalf. We also make a contribution to one of our chosen human charities or conservation projects. Currently we are supporting Rainforest Concern’s project in the Ecuadorian cloud forest and a community dining room in a poor district of Quito. When you fill in your booking form, you will be asked to tick the box of the charity or project you would like to support:
For every guest that travels with us to Galapagos, you are provided with relevant scientific updates, tourist tips and species knowledge, by email, from the only UK-charity conserving the Islands, Galapagos Conservation Trust (GCT), linking to our commitment to responsible tourism. GCT supports pioneering conservation ranging from species specific studies to ecosystem-scale restoration projects. GCT’s vision is simple: thriving islands and healthy oceans, with people at the heart of every story. A place that gives hope. Individual donations allow vital conservation projects in the Galapagos to continue and all supporters receive a subscription to their bi-annual magazine ‘Galapagos Matters’, access to webinars, invites to events and more.
Rainforest Concern is a UK based charity set up to protect the endangered habitats of the South American rainforest, including their immense biodiversity and the indigenous people who depend on them for their survival. Rainforest concern take direct action to protect vital corridors of rainforest such as purchasing land in the name of local NGOs or communities. One of their main projects is to create a continuous forest corridor between the Cotacachi Cayapas Ecological Reserve and community owned forest. Your contribution will protect a 1/5 acre of Ecuadorian rainforest – about 800m2, the size of a suburban garden.
Monseñor Oscar Romero Community Dining Room is a project run by Nun Sister Pastorita de Jesús De María in the impoverished La Pulida Alta district of Quito. The aim of the foundation is to provide support to children, young girls, adolescents, teenage mothers, and their families during difficult times. It provides a safe space where children of poor families can come for a meal and to do their schoolwork. Over the past 15 years, they have built a dining room and classroom and rely solely on benefactors to carry out their community work.
Think Galapagos and our guests were instrumental in the successful establishment of the Pan y Miel Foundation in Quito. The Foundation provided schooling and basic care for children in a shanty town in the capital who, due to a combination of poverty and family situations, were unable to get to school.
Think Galapagos was part of a group of partners including the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew who worked over a period of several years on the project ‘Tourist Routes for Forest and Peace’ to develop ecotourism in biodiversity hotspots in Colombia. The goal of the project was to sustain rural livelihoods, reduce deforestation and strengthen peace building in two post-conflict regions of Colombia: the Serranía de las Quinchas in Boyacá and the Serranía del Perijá in Cesar.
Since 2011 Think Galapagos has helped Rainforest Concern secure the permanent protection of over 35 acres of rainforest and has offset more than 10 tonnes of Carbon. Most of the rainforest protected is pristine cloud forest areas of northwest Ecuador part of the Choco Global Biodiversity Hotspot.
