GALAPAGOS
ISLANDS – GEOGRAPHY
News:
What is the Credit
Suisse-Ecuador deal for Galapagos conservation
What's
in the news?
●
Ecuador
has committed to spending millions of dollars annually for 20 years to protect
one of the world’s most precious ecosystems, after the Swiss bank bought bonds
at less than half of their original value.
Key
takeaways:
●
Credit Suisse has announced buying
Ecuadorian bonds worth $1.6 billion (€1.45 billion) in a debt-for-nature swap
that cost the Swiss bank just $644 million.
Galapagos
Island:
●
It is situated in the Pacific Ocean some 1,000 km from the Ecuadorian coast.
●
It is distributed
on either side of the Equator with an underwater wildlife spectacle with
abundant life.
●
Mount
Azul
at 5,541 feet is the highest point of the Galapagos Islands.
Geology
of the Island:
●
It begins at the sea floor and emerges
above sea level where biological processes continue.
●
Three
major tectonic plates Nazca, Cocos and Pacific meet at the basis of the ocean,
which is of significant geological interest.
Uniqueness:
●
In comparison with most oceanic
archipelagos, the Galapagos are very young with the largest and youngest islands, Isabela and Fernandina, with less
than one million years of existence, and the oldest islands, Española and San
Cristóbal, somewhere between three to five million years.
●
It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978.
●
Animal life in the island was crucial to Charles Darwin’s research before
publishing his theory of evolution.