DARWIN’S DESOLATION

Fiddi Angermeyer is a worried man. Like many people in tourism, his luxury charter business has been hard hit by Covid-19. Since the start of lockdown, there have been no international guests aboard his three-masted barquentine, or his 49-metre motor yacht. No visitors mean no income, so he is staring ruin in the face. It also means no revenue for the islands he calls home – islands he shares with dozens of species of animal and plant found nowhere else on the planet. Without the protection paid for by tourism, they are very much at risk. For Angermeyer’s home is the crucible of evolutionary theory; Darwin’s laboratory; the Galápagos Islands.

The challenge facing the islands is an existential one. Up to 90 per cent of their $800 million (£618m) annual income is linked to tourism, which also provides the money to police and protect this unique biosphere. Without it, thousands of inhabitants risk falling into poverty and illegal fishing in the marine reserve will quickly increase. Angermeyer spells it out: “There are already people going hungry and depending on food banks. However, this can only last so long. The danger being that the Galápagos could be destroyed and the fishing industry could thrive. Without tourism there will be no natural park. Without a natural park we don’t have tourism. They go hand in hand.”

Dolores Gangotena, founder of Quasar Expeditions, takes a slightly less