By: H. E. Corley Smith
In 1954 a young ethologist from the Max-Planck Institute, Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, landed in the Galapagos while on a scientific cruise. He was fascinated by the wildlife but at the same time alarmed about its poor chances of survival unless it could be given protection. Giant tortoises were being slaughtered for food and their young ones sold as pets. Sea lions were killed for sport.The fearless native birds were stoned for fun while introduced domestic animals had run wild and were destroying the unique fauna and flora.
Eibl reported his alarm to the recently formed International Union for Protection of Nature, now International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources(IUCN), located at that time in Brussels. He also expressed his concern to the Government of Ecuador and corresponded with many potential sympathizers, notably with Robert I. Bowman in San Francisco, urging the establishment of a biological research station on one of the islands. He obtained the support of a number of distinguished scientists in Europe and the Americas, including Julian Huxley, Roger Heim, S. Dillon Ripley, Jean Delacour and Misael Acosta-Solis. Delacour and Ripley, on behalf of the International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP), went to Quito and won the approval of the Government of Ecuador for the proposal.
The main organizational drive came from Eibl´s friend, Marguerite Caram, Assistant Secretary General of the IUCN.Her outstanding administrative talents enabled her to pull together the various initiatives and achieve speedy action.In particular, she won the moral and financial backing of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). This support remained of crucial importance throughout the first decade of Galapagos conservation.As a first step, UNESCO agreed to send Eibl back to the Galapagos to survey the surviving animal populations and make recommendations for the establishment sofa field research station. At the same time Dillon Ripley raised funds from Life magazine on behalf of the ICBP, the University of California and the New York Zoological Society. This made it possible to include Bowman and also a photographer(Alfred Eisenstaedt) and an artist (Rudolf Freund) in the mission.
The little group visited most of the archipelago's islands during the four-month exploratory tour in 1957. They discovered that, in spite of all the depredations, most characteristic Galapagos species still seemed to exist in sustainable numbers.The choice of a site for a field station was difficult as each island presented different problems but in the end Santa Cruz was judged to have the least disadvantages.
By fortunate chance, the 15th International Congress of Zoology was meeting in London in 1958 to celebrate the centenary of the public presentation of the evolutionary theories of Darwin and Wallace. The reports and proposals of both Eibl and Bowman were produced in time for submission to the Congress.
The case for establishing a research station would be greatly strengthened if it could be endorsed by the prestigious Congress but the Congress had a rule that it did not vote resolutions. To subvert this rule and promote action, a band of enthusiasts met at the British Museum of Natural History. Together they represented the international conservation organizations and a good cross-section of European and North American countries:
Roger Heim, President of IUCN.
Phyllis Barclay-Smith, ICPB.
E.W. Barrington, U.K.
M.C. Bloemers, Netherlands.
C.L. Boyle, Fauna Preservation Society, U.K.
J. Dorst, France.
E.P. Dottrens, Switzerland.
Mlle. Dux, UNESCO.
Lord Hurcomb, Vice-President, UICN.
Sir Julian Huxley, Royal Society, U.K.
K. Curry-Lindahl, Sweden.
Th. Monod, Dakar-Paris.
Tracey Phillips, Secretary General, IUCN.
B. Rensch, International Union of Biological Sciences.
S. Dillon Ripley, President ICBP.
Peter Scott, U.K.
Marguerite Caram, IUCN.
The group prepared the following resolution, edited by Huxley and Ripley, for submission to the Congress:
"That this widely representative meeting of zoologists from many nations participating in the fifteenth International Congress of Zoology wishes to place on record in plenary session the great urgency of safeguarding the fauna and flora of the Galapagos Islands; and welcomes the project, initiated by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, for establishing on the islands an international biological station associated with the name of Darwin for research and for assisting the authorities of Ecuador in the task of conservation; and trusts that every support will be given by all concerned to the early and successful realization of this vital project."
It is a point of some significance that in 1958, for the first time in its history, the International Congress of Zoology had a section on conservation; and it was convenient that one of the promoters of the resolution, Curry-Lindahl, was its chairman. In a crowded session he accepted the resolution, proposed by Dillon Ripley. It was carried by acclamation and subsequently confirmed unanimously by the Congress in plenary session. The importance of this resolution should not be underestimated. At a time when the need for wildlife conservation was still little understood, the benediction of this eminent international congress carried weight with the Government of Ecuador, UNESCO, IUCN and other potential sources of support. Moreover the sponsors of the resolution individually held influential posts in such bodies as IUCN, ICBP, Yale University, the Royal Society and the Max-Planck Institute. With this backing, the conditions for a successful take-off for Galapagos conservation were at last present.
A distinguished organizing committee of zealous supporters was set up under the acting chairmanship of Julian Huxley. Their problems were enormous but, thanks especially to the energy, skill and prestige of Victor Van Straelen, the Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands, independent, international and non-governmental, was established under Belgian Law on 23rd July, 1959, in the centenary year of the publication of Darwin´s On the Origin of Species.
The first Executive Council (1959-1964) was composed of:
Honorary President: Sir Julian Huxley
President: Victor Van Straelen
Vice-President: Luis Jaramillo
Secretary-General: Jean Dorst
Secretary for the Americas: Robert I Bowman
Members: Jean-G. Baer, Cristobal Bonifaz Jijon, François Boulière, Harold J. Coolidge, Bernhard Rensch, S. Dillon Ripley, Peter Scott, Wm. Randolph Taylor.
The Birth of the Research Station
In 1959 the Charles Darwin Foundation existed as a legal entity in Belgium but everything still remained to be done to make it an operative organization in the remote Galapagos. The biological resources and geology of the islands had been only sketchily explored and little was known of the conservation problems that would have to be faced. Before action could be taken, funds had to be raised .Victor Van Straelen was the driving force in this operation, while Jean Dorst and Peter Scott were largely responsible for administrative matters, with assistance from Bob Bowman in North America. The remarkable exertions of this team, with the support of the Council members, allowed the CDF to begin operations in the islands early in 1960.