Marine Invasive Species Project presented at World Conservation Congress

The Charles Darwin Foundation is participating in the IUCN World Conservation Congress with the session titled Bioinvasions in the Eastern Tropical Pacific and the Galapagos Islands: a biosafety network initiative presented by our scientist Dr. Inti Keith, principal investigator of the Marine Invasive Species program.

The Marine Invasive Species project led by Dr. Keith was created with the goal of mobilizing invasion science and management solutions that protect, empower and sustain coastal communities. Dr. Keith explains how "The number of marine species introduced to the Galapagos Islands is 10 times higher than previously known: at present, a minimum of 53 exotic marine animals have been documented in the Archipelago,"

Dr. Keith states that the challenge is not just to promote biosecurity in one place, but to implement a coordinated regional approach to marine biosecurity in all countries. In short, biosecurity capacity (prevention, detection and response) is more effective and efficient at the regional level. "We have launched the Coastal Ocean Marine Biosecurity Network of the Americas (COMBINA) to advance and coordinate marine biosafety throughout the American continent, from Chile to the United States (Alaska)," she says in his presentation.

"Through this network we intend to address the new critical biosafety challenges for the conservation and preservation of marine resources in the Galapagos Islands, which are also shared throughout the Pacific" concluded the scientist.

Also participating in this global event are Rakan Zahawi, Executive Director; María José Barragán, Director of Sciences; Renée Monroe, Director of Philanthropy and Patricia Jaramillo, Principal Investigator of the Galapagos Verde 2050 project and General Coordinator of the Natural History Collections.