Gunter Reck Professor of Ecology and Galapagos resident, experienced first hand from 1973 when the total population of the island was 4,000. Now there are more than 60,000 tourists and 20,000 citizens. Professor Reck documents in this video the destruction wrought by overpopulation in the Galapagos Islands.
Overpopulation is the big pink elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about. Where Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution, presenter Andrew Marr warns that The Galapagos islands, are faced with a multi dimensional set of problems, habitat destruction, lack of basic resources, significant lack of waste and sanitation management for the islanders, to name a few.
"Speaking at a dinner at Christ's College, Cambridge, to mark the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth, Mr Marr warned that the islands' habitats face ruination unless human development leaves space for the wildlife."
