Letter: Support for the Galapagos Islands

Sir: Your article "A hit squad to save Darwin's paradise isles" (11 March) did an excellent job in appraising your readers of some of the very serious threats to the biodiversity of the Galapagos Islands, but at the same time it gave a misleading impression of the role of the Galapagos Conservation Trust, downplayed the role of the Galapagos National Park and omitted all mention of the Charles Darwin Foundation.

The Galapagos National Park has done an excellent job over the past 20 years to ensure the preservation of the Galapagos, it has been fighting an uphill battle and it has lacked both resources and political support.

All conservation programmes in Galapagos are carried out by the National Park Service with the help and support of the Charles Darwin Research Station, which was set up in 1960 to advise the Ecuadorian government on the conservation of this most important of all national parks.

The Galapagos Conservation Trust has been set up in the UK to help and support the Galapagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Research Station by raising awareness of and funds for the preservation of this truly wonderful archipelago. We will not, as the article implies, be making unilateral decisions, the main work and decisions will be for the Galapagos National Park to make with our full support and co-operation.

Julian Fitter

Chairman, Galapagos

Conservation Trust

Shaftesbury, Dorset