People are the new species in the Galapagos, having first set foot on the islands in the 1800s. © James W. Thorsell / WWF-Canon

The Galapagos Islands continue to call to increasing numbers of visitors — from a few thousand annually in the 1960s to more than 170,000 today. The purpose of the Galapagos National Park authority’s new regulations that will go into effect on February 1, 2012, is to enhance those travelers’ experiences while protecting the fragile ecosystems of what were once known simply as the “enchanted islands.”

Several recent news stories regarding the new regulations have either caused confusion or spread misinformation. In reality, while most tour providers were limited to seven-night itineraries under the old regulations (with only a few authorized to conduct 10-night or 14-night trips), the new regulations require that cruises in the Galapagos operate on a 15-day/14-night schedule. Operators may divide that span of time into a maximum of four segments. It is believed that most tour operators will split their itineraries into: 1) two, seven-night trips; 2) two, five-night tours and one, four-night trip; 3) two, four-night tours and one, six-night trip; or 4) two, four-night and two, three-night trips. During that 15-day timeframe, a boat may not visit the same site twice, with the exception of the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island.

Under the previous regulations, some sites—such as Darwin Bay on Tower (Genovesa) Island and Tagus Cove on Isabela Island—were off-limits to larger vessels. Lifting that ban will result in increased visitor numbers at underused spots and decreased numbers at sites that are becoming imperiled from too much traffic.

For the first half of 2011, the majority of travelers landed at the airport on Baltra Island. A smaller share of visitors landed at the San Crisobal Island airport. By including the requirement in the new regulations that the airport on San Cristóbal be utilized at least once in every 15-day/14-night cruise schedule, some of the tourist pressure on Baltra will also be lightened.

“Based on feedback we’ve received from IGTOA members,” says Matt Kareus, executive director of the International Galapagos Tour Operators Association, “most seem to see the new rules as a step in the right direction. These regulations will help reduce the impact on certain important sites and should, overall, improve visitor experiences.”

The Galapagos Islands were among the first group of sites added to the World Heritage List in 1978. But in 2007, threats from increasing tourism, overfishing, and encroaching invasive species put the Galapagos on the List of World Heritage in Danger places. However, because of Ecuador’s progress in strengthening conservation measures, the Galapagos were removed from that roster in July 2010.

The new regulations should help ensure that the Galapagos do not become “endangered” again.

-Candice Gaukel Andrews

• Join WWF’s Classic Galapagos Adventure, March 30 – April 9, 2012.

© International Galapagos Tour Operators Association; reprinted with permission

Africa was on readers’ minds in 2011, with three of our top posts dedicated to the continent. © Howard W. Buffett / WWF-US

In 2011 we discussed destinations, interviewed experts and highlighted WWF’s work around the world. Here are 10 of the most read blog posts of the year.

10. Kenya or Tanzania: Which to choose?
We discussed the similarities and differences between these two classic safari destinations.

9. Q-and-A: Northern Great Plains
WWF Program Officer Dennis Jorgensen shared with us his passion for his work in the Northern Great Plains, a WWF priority place.

8. School of Thought: 10 things Micronesia taught us
The South Pacific region is home to the surreal Jellyfish Lake, the addictive betel nut and traditional money that weighs a ton … literally.

7. Nature’s Close Up: A Bornean Primate Slideshow
In the first installment of our slideshow series, we highlighted some of Borneo’s most fascinating primates.

6. In Your Words: The value of nature
We asked, you answered! WWF members shared their top picks for destinations that make them value nature the most.

5. Ten Things to Take on Your African Safari
Blogger Wendy Worral Redal went beyond the typical safari packing list, suggesting some great additions.

4. In Palau, Contending with a Crown of Thorns
A popular WWF snorkeling leader protects Palauan waters from an invasive species, one thrust of a hand-sharpened spear at a time.

3. Top Shot: Kenya
We highlighted a stunning photo of a group of Maasai women.

2. Five myths about Amazon River dolphins
Amazon residents believed that river dolphins held magical powers, which helped keep the species protected.

1. WWF Quiz: Great Apes
Turns out you know your stuff when it comes to orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos.

The Galapagos Islands and the rich waters surrounding them are home to nearly 9,000 species. © James Frankham / WWF-Canon

In 1572, a group of Spanish sailors that was fleeing South America was pushed by the South Equatorial Current into the Galapagos Islands. Having no navigational charts with them, the sailors referred to these newly found lands as the Islas Encantadas (Bewitched Islands) because they seemed to appear and disappear before their eyes in the fog and mist. In fact, some seventeenth-century Spaniards who witnessed the same phenomenon claimed that the Galapagos were, in truth, mere shadows and had no physical form at all.

Ever since that time, it seems, people have been drawn to this unique place, from pirates to whalers, scientists to eco-tourists. For the past fourteen years, in fact, the archipelago has seen more than 150,000 annual visitors. But starting on February 1, 2012, there will be new regulations regarding the number of days visitors may spend there and the landings they may make.

The Galapagos National Park authority states that the new regulations were needed in order to protect the local animal and plant life and the islands, which were suffering from over-visitation and erosion. The bonus for travelers is that islands that were previously little frequented will now be opened up for tourism to redistribute some of the current traffic. While many ships’ itineraries have focused mainly on the three islands of Isabela, Santa Cruz and San Cristobal for the past fourteen years, the islands of Española, Genovesa and Fernandina will now see more boats arriving.

And, with these new rules in place, says the park authority, less fuel will be consumed and less pollution will be emitted by the yachts, boats and ships working in the islands.

A tourist photographs a Gentoo penguin chick on Half Moond Island, Antarctica. © Staffan Widstrand / WWF

Antarctica put on ice
The Galapagos isn’t the only example of a pristine place that needed to limit tourists in an effort to protect what’s left of it. In 2009, safety fears and concerns about the impact visitors were having on the delicate frozen landscape caused signatories of the Antarctic Treaty — an agreement between forty-eight nations on the use of the continent — to set limits for the number of tourists permitted. In 1992-93, visitors to Antarctica numbered 6,700. By 2009-10, they had risen to more than 40,000. The new rules asked that countries prevent ships with more than five hundred passengers from landing on the continent and to only allow a maximum of one hundred passengers on shore at any given time.

Some would say, however, that elevating places of natural beauty to the status of protected parks or World Heritage Sites is enough. When we start putting quotas on the numbers of people who can visit a given area, we invite a system where access can be bought. And once something is limited, of course, it becomes more expensive in the marketplace. That could lead to having the Earth’s most amazing places being affordable and accessible only by the wealthy.

Do you think our places of natural beauty should have caps on the number of people that may visit them?

-Candice Gaukel Andrews

© Natural Habitat Adventures. Reprinted with permission.

WWF considers the Coral Triangle a WWF priority place for protection. © Jürgen Freund / WWF-Canon

WILDLIFE

• “The tracks we find are old, which is a problem,” WWF’s Steve Felton writes from Namibia. “It is already 11 o’clock and the sun is getting hot. That’s the time that many tourists start to think about lunch and getting back to the lodge.” But not Felton, and the expert trackers searching for Namibia’s rare black rhinos.

• Apparently, piranha in the Amazon bark when they get angry.

DESTINATIONS

• Several portions of The Great Wall of China are actually double, triple or quadruple walls that parallel one another, a Chinese archeology team recently discovered.

• Wired Science published a slide show of images of U.S. national parks as seen from space. Many of the photos – including those of Glacier and Denali national parks – look like art, not astronaut’s eye views of terra firma.

• Glacial ice reduction, smaller elk herds and beetle infestations have all been observed as results of climate change in Yellowstone National Park, a research team reported in late September.

• Innovative investment plans are needed to protect the reefs of the Coral Triangle and the people who depend on them for their livelihoods, WWF says.

TRAVEL TIPS

• Feeling tons of pressure to create a happy and positive vacation, few travelers are brave enough to admit a simple and important truth: traveling can be stressful. Vagabondish runs down a few helpful tips for decreasing anxiety levels before and during your trip.

• How many times do you see a wandering cat or dog while traveling and feel tempted to pet it? Don’t do it, Planet Green.com advises in its excellent article 10 tricks for optimal health while traveling.

• Are you relying more and more on smart phones for your travel photography? National Geographic photographer Cotton Colson reviews his top iPhone photography tips on the Intelligent Travel Blog.

Gerholdt on a rainy day during her trip to Borneo.

Jennifer Gerholdt has been working as a Program Officer in WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN) for more than three and a half years, helping to save the world’s remaining natural forests. But it wasn’t until this July that she had the opportunity to visit one first-hand.

Gerholdt, along with members of the GFTN team in Indonesia, traveled to East Kalimantan in Borneo, Indonesia to evaluate the operations of the forest company PT Adimitra Lestari.  GFTN will be working with Adimitra to help improve its management policies and practices with the ultimate goal of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. FSC is an independent, third-party certification that WWF considers to be the most credible.

To date, nearly half of the Earth’s original forests have been lost; 10 percent of all forests have disappeared in only the last 25 years. GFTN works to eliminate illegal and unsustainable logging and drive improvements in the world’s most valuable and threatened forests by partnering with companies committed to responsible forestry and trade. GFTN is working with almost 300 companies in more than 30 countries throughout the supply chain, from forest managers like Adimitra to retailers like Williams-Sonoma, Inc. in North America.

Getting to “one of the most remote places in the world”, as Gerholdt describes it, where Adimitra operates, was no small feat. Though her trip took 12 days, she spent just two days on the ground. The rest of the time she was traveling via multiple planes and boats. When Gerholdt finally arrived, she was not disappointed. “I was in awe,” she said. “It’s one thing to hear about how amazing a place is from other people, and it’s another to see it for yourself.”

Though Adimitra owns only about 123,000 acres, a relatively small area by WWF standards, GFTN wants to work with the company in part because it is critical habitat for a pygmy elephant population. The species is considered endangered, with as few as 1,000 individuals found in the wild.

Gerholdt and the GFTN-Indonesia team identified opportunities for Adimitra to improve its operations, including creating a tree harvesting plan, gravelling the logging roads to prevent further erosion,  establishing  a waste management system for disposing of materials such as used vehicle parts and oil, and stemming the encroachment of palm oil plantations.

“Adimitra has a lot of work ahead of them, just like all companies starting out in their responsible forestry and trade journey,” Gerholdt says. “The incredible value of the GFTN program is its ability to work with companies like them to make important changes. And having the chance to visit one of the forests we are trying to protect was an inspiring reminder of the importance of what we do.”

Join WWF’s tour Into the Heart of Borneo, June 12 – 28, 2012.

The Amazon is one of the rain forests WWF works to protect. © Brent Stirton Getty Images / WWF-UK

Guardians of our climate and protectors of our health, trees first appeared on Earth more 380 million years ago. Our planet’s forests store more carbon than is contained in the Earth’s entire atmosphere, and they give off oxygen—making it possible for us to live here. Some put it this way: our cells “speak the same language” as the trees.

Even our rainfall is born in the forests—through transpiration, the water absorbed by tree roots is given off as water vapor. Trees produce substances that seed the clouds; and the vapor, condensing, then becomes flowing water. Forests are home to more than half of the world’s species, and half of our medications come from plants.

Unfortunately, there’s another “half” figure that isn’t so good. Half of the forests that existed at the dawn of agriculture have been destroyed. Forests today need our protection and our help. That’s why the United Nations has declared 2011 the International Year of Forests.

• Watch this seven-and-a-half-minute film from the U.N. on this incredible natural habitat.

• Tour a rain forest with WWF in 2012.

Borneo is home to some of the richest and most diverse tropical forests on the planet. © WWF-US / Jay Sherman

The United States and Indonesian governments signed an agreement September 29, 2011 that will result in $28.5 million in funding to protect a large block of forest land in the Indonesian region known as the Heart of Borneo.

WWF and The Nature Conservancy worked with the two governments to develop this innovative conservation financing approach.

The forest land is rich in wildlife and an important source for securing carbon. It is also a place that many local communities rely on for their livelihoods because it provides them with jobs and firewood to heat their homes.

Through the agreement, carried out under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, Indonesia’s debt to the U.S. of $28.5 million is “swapped” for investment over the next five to seven years in three Heart of Borneo forest districts. The U.S. government is responsible for reducing Indonesia’s debt obligations by $20 million. WWF and The Nature Conservancy each provided $2 million. Because of the timing of the debt payments, the actual amount available for forest protection in Indonesia is $28.5 million.

Funding from this swap will help protect two WWF priority areas: The Kutai Barat District, where work will focus on protecting remaining natural forest, by converting degraded land into palm oil plantations; and Kapuas Hulu, an area between Danau Sentarum and Betung Kerihun national parks that, if connected, would provide a place for orangutans and other wildlife to roam freely and for forest carbon to be stored.

The debt-swap will provide many benefits to the region including:

• Funds invested in critical biodiversity conservation projects, such as protected areas and habitat corridors
• Strengthened role of communities in natural resource management through new projects and community managed areas
• Improved governance of natural resources through sustainable forestry practices and certification
• Enhancement of the land use planning process to minimize the impacts from unsustainable agriculture

Travel with WWF to Borneo, June 12 – 28, 2012.

About 170 radiated tortoises like these were recently found inside the luggage of smugglers. © Martin Harvey / WWF-Canon

CONSERVATION NEWS

• Leaders in various western Pacific islands, including Micronesia, together have taken important strides toward protecting sharks by establishing the world’s largest shark sanctuary. It covers two million square miles of ocean.

• Two men are on trial in Madagascar for trying to smuggle nearly 200 of some of the world’s rarest tortoises out of the country, and more than 1,000 elephant tusks en route to Madagascar were seized in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

WILDLIFE

• The number of tigers in India is on the rise, WWF International reports.

• One of the best articles to come out this summer was Time Magazine’s international edition cover story on the devastating impact of “newly moneyed nations” on African rhino poaching. It’s worth a read, though not for the faint of heart.

• Watch a BBC Earth video of a first-time trek to see mountain gorillas in Africa.

DESTINATIONS

• British explorer Ed Stafford spent 860 days walking the length of the Amazon River, from its source in the Andes to its end at the Atlantic Ocean. He published a book about his adventure and recorded a few videos, too. Meanwhile, researchers discovered a new species of monkey in the Amazon.

• Lonely Planet’s top nine spots in Namibia are nearly all covered on our tour there.

MISCELLANY

• Vagbondish runs down its picks for the best 10 websites that make traveling easier.

Giraffes spotted during a drive in the #Khoadi //Hoas conservancy. © WWF-US / Caroline Behringer

Namibia not only boasts vast and spectacular landscapes and diverse, plentiful flora and fauna, but also one of the greatest African wildlife recovery stories ever told.  Caroline Behringer, a member of WWF’s Media & External Affairs Team, recently took two journalists to see the successes of Namibia’s community conservancy model.

The national community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) program allows rural Namibians to apply to the Ministry of Environment to manage a communal conservancy. An elected group encourages sustainable use of the land and promotion of wildlife. Where poaching was once seen as the only profitable use for animals, communities now recognize there is more to be gained through ecotourism by keeping their environment pristine.

For Behringer, the trip brought her involvement in Africa to a whole new level. “Seeing the conservancies first-hand brought to life so many of the people and places that I had only heard about through stories,” she said.  “This is truly a Namibian success story, and that was clear from speaking to so many of the hard working conservancy members on the ground.”

Caroline Behringer

During their 16-day stay, Behringer was able to experience both the abundance of wildlife and the ground-level structure behind the conservancy model. One early morning the team participated in a species count at one conservancy. The count allows managers to see if wildlife quotas are fulfilled and to approximate how much revenue ecotourism will bring for the coming year.

“Before this trip, I had never seen elephants, giraffes or zebras outside of zoos. It took me a while to really believe that they were roaming freely in the wild,” Behringer said.

There are many species that have benefited greatly from the conservancies. Namibia currently has the largest population of free-roaming black rhinos in the world, the only expanding population of free-roaming lions and an elephant population that has doubled between 1995 and 2008, now totaling over 16,000 individuals.

The team also attended a financial planning session, organized by Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC), which brought representatives together from five conservancies to discuss capacity building, budgeting, investing and annual planning. The meeting was translated into four languages – English, Afrikaans, Herero and Damara.

Behringer was struck by the number of women involved. “It was great to see that women are taking on leadership roles in their conservancies,” she said. “Some of the areas we visited had female treasurers who were trusted and respected by the community.”

The revenue raised from the conservancies flows back into the community and helps pay for health care, education and the care for the elderly. It catalyzes economic growth and brings an entrepreneurial spirit to localities.
Namibia is a magnificent example of conservancies in action, mobilizing communities in conjunction with fostering sustainable land use and encouraging the reverence of Africa’s wondrous wildlife.

- Emily Booker, WWF

• Travel to Namibia with WWF.

© Lindblad Expeditions

Learn more about WWF’s Land of the Ice Bears expedition during a free webinar this Tuesday, August 30, 2011, from 7 – 8 p.m. EST,  hosted by our tour operator Lindblad Expeditions. This special presentation will be led by a veteran expedition leader. Register now!