A second oil spill is threatening Ecuador's Galapagos islands, while the mortality rate among its marine iguanas has risen alarmingly, blamed on an earlier spill in 2001. An estimated 62 percent of marine iguanas on one of the Galapagos islands in Ecuador died as a result of a January 2001 spill by an oil tanker, reported a study released in early July, which coincided with a new incident in which 7,500 liters of diesel fuel were dumped off the coast of the archipelago.

The latest spill took place on Jul 4 when the tanker Taurus dumped fuel into the sea while it was shaken by strong currents, authorities reported.

Although the spill occurred 1,500 meters from the coast of Isabela island, the largest in the Galapagos archipelago, the government ensured that the impact on the islands would be “minimal.”

Meanwhile, a study by Princeton University found evidence that the large number of deaths of iguanas reported last year on Santa Fe island was linked to the earlier 2001 oil spill.

“Despite the low level of pollution reported, several things indicate that the rise in mortality among animals on Santa Fe was linked to the spill,” said scientific researcher Martin Wikelski.

The study was carried out from January to December 2001, on the island of Santa Fe, which was affected by the spill, and on Genovesa island, which was not. Just days after the accident, the researchers counted and marked iguanas on both islands, and began to monitor the mortality rate.

“Although months after the spill, both living and food conditions were good, we found an unusually large number of iguana remains on the coast of Santa Fe, which showed that the deaths were caused by external factors,” said Wikelski.

The researchers also studied the damages caused by the fuel to the intestines of the iguanas, a species that only in the Galapagos islands has adapted to salt water, explained Fernando Espinoza, director of the Charles Darwin Foundation.

“We are studying whether the fuel interfered with the cellulase enzyme, which enables iguanas to digest cellulose without damage to the intestines,” he said.

In January 2001, the tanker Jessica dumped 300 tons of diesel fuel and fuel oil in the sea when it ran aground on a rock.

Environmentalists allege that the government of Gustavo Noboa failed to take prompt action that could have prevented the spill because it trusted the state-run oil company Petrocomercial's claims that the emergency was under control. But three days after the vessel ran aground, the fuel began to leak out, forming a 1,200 square meter fuel slick, which was fortunately carried away from the islands by unusually strong currents.

“We avoided a catastrophe with the help that came from above, because around the Galapagos there are no strong ocean currents, and suddenly one appeared to take part of the fuel away from the coast. Nevertheless, the consequences were felt,” said Espinoza.

Authorities used floating barriers and chemical solvents to keep the fuel slick from expanding. But the operation faced complications because many of the solvents are not authorized for use in fragile ecosystems like the waters surrounding the Galapagos islands.

The World Wildlife Fund warned at the time that the accident could have a profound and lasting impact on the islands' fauna. A year and a half later, the high mortality rate of the iguanas seems to bear that out.

In February 2001, the Galapagos National Park sued Acotramar, which owned the Jessica, the boat's captain, Petrocomercial, and Britain's Terranova Insurance company for 14 million dollars in damages, the first lawsuit of its kind filed in Ecuador.

In 1974, UNESCO declared the Galapagos islands a world heritage site, and extended that classification to its marine reserves in 2001.

The spectacled bear, arrived in the Andes Mountains some 16,000 years ago. It is the only South American bear species, and its prospects for survival are gloomy.

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“In the eastern Andean foothills of Bolivia it has been found at 550 meters altitude, and in the arid zones of Peru at 300 meters,” Francisco Cuesta, member of a research team of the Ecuadorian Eco-Science Foundation, told Tierramérica.

Because of its black fur and a whitish-yellow patch around the eyes, which sometimes extends over the forehead and chest, it is also known as the spectacled bear, or masked bear. Weighing a half kilogram at birth, it can reach two meters long and a weight of 110 to 175 kg in adulthood, with the females being much smaller than the males.

The gestation period is eight months, with one to three cubs born at a time, staying with the mother two to three years before going off on their own. The Andean bear lives 20 to 25 years.

But as cities continue to expand and farming and ranching operations spread into previously untouched areas, the species' habitat is being fragmented, isolating bears from one another and seriously endangering their future viability.

“Compared to other large mammal species of the Americas, like the puma or jaguar, the genetic variation of the Andean bear is quite limited, meaning it does not adapt easily to new environments,” explains Spanish geneticist Manuel Ruiz-García, an expert at the Pontificate Javeriana University of Bogotá.

Because of this characteristic, the presence of the species is a sign that there is an abundance of food. Its diet is 70 percent plants – shoots, fruits, seeds, bark – and the 30 percent remaining consists of larvae, rodents, deer and sloth.

The genetic traits of the bear, which Ruiz-García has been tracing since 1993, have allowed him to identify the differentiated populations of various areas. The expert estimates that there are 3,000 to 6,000 Andean bears in Colombia.

The Colombian Environment Ministry plans to launch a campaign this year to raise awareness in the peasant farming communities in the central, south and southwest regions of the country that the species does not pose a threat to livestock or to cornfields, but rather indicate that a healthy variety of plant and animal species exists in the area.

Furthermore, the Colombian government intends to add the Andean bear, as “a species in danger of extinction” to Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), Claudia Rodríguez, of the ministry's wildlife division, told Tierramérica.

According to Ecuador's Cuesta, “the range of ecosystems it inhabits and its close links to the indigenous communities make the Andean bear a key species for a conservation process that involves people.” However, Quito has not adopted any measures aimed at protecting the species.

In 1990, the spectacled bear population of South America was more than 18,000. “In Ecuador, where there are still nearly 29,000 square km of good habitat, there are 2,018 bears, 11 percent of the total population,” and no group has more than 250 adults, said Cuesta.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) considers the spectacled bear “vulnerable to extinction,” but in Ecuador, it is “in danger of extinction” due to the fact that the population has declined 25 percent in the last decade.

In the nature reserves of the southeastern province of Morona Santiago, paths have been found in which “feeding sites, paw prints, fur, nests and other traces are evident,” says Luis Puanchir, of the indigenous Shuar community.

“DNA tests of the hair samples gives us an idea of the relative size of the population, seasonal movements, the sex ratio and other evolutionary patterns,” said Cuesta.

Hunting, which has been banned since 1970, has not stopped. According to Puanchir, the Indians do not intentionally hunt the spectacled bear, but “if they find one, they will trap it because it provides a great deal of meat and fat.”

The unceasing footsteps of thousands of tourists over the ruins produce an effect similar to a small-scale earthquake, says an expert.

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Taco's concern is shared by environmentalists and anthropologists of the National University of Cuzco, who are alarmed that the excess of visitors is causing the large boulders to shift in the sacred city, rediscovered only in 1911.

In the year 2000 alone, around 100,000 people visited the archeological complex of 32,000 hectares, which furthermore holds an extraordinary range of biodiversity.

One of the most notorious incident occurred in January when the principal stone of the sundial at Machu Picchu was broken off at the corner when a mechanical arm used in filming an advertisement fell on it.

Experts and environmentalists question the governmental National Institute of Culture (INC), in charge of the ancient Incan city's administration, for allowing operations using heavy equipment at the fragile site.

“The unceasing footsteps of so many people produces an effect similar to a small-scale earthquake, shifting the rocks and making the constructions unstable,” Lucio Cisneros, an engineer and geologist at the National University of Cuzco, told Tierramérica.

The INC has prohibited entry to the Temple of the Sun, the main ritual site, and to other areas of the ruins ” in which the stones have been damaged or tourists have carved their names,” said Machu Picchu guard, Pedro Santa Cruz.

The overabundance of tourists poses a serious threat to the delicate setting, according to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), which declared Machu Picchu a Heritage of Humanity Site in 1983, and since then has collaborated in its preservation.

After conducting a series of studies, UNESCO urged the Peruvian government to reduce the number of visits to the ancient ruins from 1,200 to 500 people per day. But the exhortation fell on deaf ears in Lima.

In July 2001, President Alejandro Toledo held a promotional meeting at Machu Picchu to which 45 tourism operators from around the world were invited, a move that seems likely only to boost the number of footsteps over the site's paths and stones.

The ground movement in the area shifts the pre-Colombian ruins one centimeter each month, which could lead to even greater movement, capable of pushing the ruins to the point of collapse, warned a June 2001 study by the Disaster Prevention Institute of Japan's Kyoto University.

“An avalanche could separate the ruins into two parts at any time,” states the report.

Not only Machu Picchu, but also the entire Cuzco region is located on the Tambomachay geological fault, where seismic activity has already caused several quakes.

The Peruvian authorities, however, say that there is no rigorous data that this movement proves to be “an imminent risk.”

The critics of the government's lack of action also protest the fact that the massive flow of tourists to the area creates pollution.

“Because there are no rules regulating the tours through the ruins, and because there is little oversight, many tourists throw garbage just anywhere and don't think of the consequences,” said tour guide Taco.

Another potential threat to the ruins is a private company's project to build a cable car system to the ruins, located at more than 3,000 meters above sea level. For now, the project has been put on hold. If completed it could increase the number of daily visitors to 4,000.

Building a cable car “would be crazy because it would mean the destruction of Machu Picchu. But the authorities have not ruled it out because more tourists means more income for the country,” said university expert Cisneros.

The project, which UNESCO also opposes, would require a base 100 meters deep, “which would destroy the anthropological remains that may be found below the sanctuary,” Cisneros said.

Some 150 animals have been saved and returned to their habitat, but dead marine birds and mammals continue to be found a month after the disaster caused by oil-tanker Jessica.

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Soon, free of petroleum residues, Pedrín will be off in the skies again, hunting the waters that surround San Cristobal Island, in the Galapagos.

Pedrín was a lucky bird. Others have not enjoyed the same fate. At least three of his fellow pelicans fell victim to the spillage of 300 tons of fuel from the tanker Jessica, which in January ran aground in this Ecuadorian sanctuary, a United Nations Natural Heritage of Humanity site.

The official list of deaths also includes two seagulls, two frigate birds, three puffins and a manta ray – all of which were previously inhabitants of an ecosystem that is famous the world over for having inspired Charles Darwin's theory of the evolution of species.

Each death of an animal is a dagger in the heart of environmentalists. And four weeks after the disaster, they continue finding cadavers. ''I will stay until we find the last animal with signs of contamination,'' says Adam after saving Pedrín's life.

Adam, whose home is in the US state of California, flew to the islands as soon as he heard about the Jessica oil spill, joining four other volunteers from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Enthusiastic environmentalists like them have assisted the staff at the Charles Darwin Foundation in saving 150 animals so far, including seals and birds, which were released back into their habitat after being cleaned.

With the support of several governments and environmental organizations, the Wildlife Rescue Center, based in San Cristobal, was able to set up and equip veterinary centers for treating all types of species, though the ones who most suffered the impacts of the oil spill were seals and pelicans.

The head of Galapagos National Park, Eliécer Cruz, expressed his appreciation for the assistance and underscored the role of the volunteers. They perceive the islands ''as part of their lives,'' Cruz pointed out.

Bruce, another volunteer, commented that a true environmentalist should feel any blow to ecology personally. ''These unique islands are very loved by us. I hope that Ecuador becomes aware of what they mean to humanity,'' he said.

While Tierramérica conversed with Bruce, some members of the local fishing community arrived with three sea birds covered in crude and a dead pelican. The volunteers got to work, beginning the clean up.

''Even though we know that in the coming months we will continue to find animals killed by the contamination indirectly through the food they eat, we believe no more pelicans killed directly as a result of the oil spill,'' he commented.

Cruz says the staff of the Galapagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation remain on permanent alert.

The WWF has warned that international law and mechanisms for inspection and monitoring are still insufficient for reducing the incidence of oil spills.

''The efforts of many countries in fighting oil spills occur only when they are hit by a big spill, as occurred now with Ecuador,'' Adam said.

According to the WWF, there are an average of two accidents per month worldwide involving oil spills, and 80 percent of the cases involve human error and the permissive attitudes of many governments, which allow petroleum-carrying ships into their waters even if the vessels are in poor condition.

More than 6,000 tankers currently navigate the world's oceans, and many are carrying toxic materials on board.

Following the black tide caused by the inebriation of the captain of the Exxon Valdez on the coast of Alaska in 1989 – a spill that dumped 36,000 tons of crude, covering 800 km of coastline – the United States tightened up the country's petroleum shipping laws.

The US government also set up a special commission to follow the effects of the giant spill over a 10-year period, ending in 1999.

Pollution from fossil fuel derivatives has cumulative and persistent effects as it is introduced into the marine food chain through its principal vector: water. The negative effects can reach humans through the consumption of filtering species, such as mollusks.

The biological impact of petroleum pollution in the Galapagos marine ecosystem is also evident in the phyto-plankton and sea plants. For fauna, however, black tides are true catastrophes.

The Exxon Valdez accident in the US state of Alaska killed 250,000 birds, 5,000 sea otters, 300 seals, 22 killer whales, 150 American osprey, 14 sea lions and innumerable fish of a broad range of species.

In the Galapagos Islands, the scale of death was much less, but for ecologists, there is no excuse to put off making radical changes in legislation.

A representative of the French movement Ecological Generation proposes that Ecuador ''follow the example of the United States, which, following the sinking of the Exxon Valdez, passed a rigorous law regulating oil tankers.''

''It breaks the heart of ecologists to see these dead pelicans or seals having a hard time dragging themselves across the sand as a result of the negligence of humans. We have to realize that taking care of the Galapagos is an expression of sensitivity,'' said the activist.

The invasion of wild goats and of non-native plants, expansion of the human population, over-fishing, fires and pollution are the most serious problems these majestic islands face – The oil spill last week in the Galapagos Islands will leave a permanent mark on local ecosystems, but it is not the only, nor the worse environmental problem this unique Ecuadorian natural reserve in the Pacific Ocean is facing.

Beyond the environmental damage left by the 300 tons of fuel spilled by the ship 'Jessica,' run aground on the islands, there are the invasions of non-native species, human over-population, pollution, excessive fishing, fires and a rising flow of tourists.

The Special Law of the Galapagos, which is meant to ensure the conservation of the unique island ecosystems, has been in effect only since 1999, and since then major alterations in the environment have been recorded.

Ecologists attribute these changes to the fast-growing human population on the Galapagos, which led to an expansion of cultivated areas, mining for building materials and pollution from the poor management of solid and chemical wastes.

On top of this is the impact of foreign animal and plant species introduced to the islands.

By 1971, there were already 170 non-native plant species found there, but today the total reaches 500. Experts warn that many are destroying the endemic plant populations.

Isabela Island – where a 1994 fire destroyed more than 9,000 hectares – has been invaded by some 30,000 wild goats, which are devastating the vegetation and threaten the survival of giant turtles.

Massive industry-style fishing has also caused grave damage, leading to the possible extinction of marine species like the sea cucumber.

More than 20 tuna-fishing vessels entered the Marine Reserve area last year, where there is a ban on fishing, but the boats' owners were not penalized in any way.

In addition, local environmentalists stress that it is necessary to regulate the arrival of the more than 60,000 tourists who visit the Galapagos each year.

Antonio Enríquez, secretary of the World Tourism Organization, pointed out that the island ecosystem could collapse in less than 10 years, and called on the Ecuadorian authorities to take immediate and appropriate action.

The reaction of the government under President Gustavo Noboa to the running aground of 'Jessica' on Jan 16 triggered criticisms from environmental groups, which condemned the lack of immediate measures that could have prevented the oil spill.

Activists say it was pure luck that a change in ocean currents impeded the 200-square km oil slick from harming the 10,000 galapagos, the giant turtles for which the islands are named.

But they warned that the islands cannot always depend – as they have so far – on good luck.

The January accident was not the first of its kind for the islands. The cargo ship 'San Luis' ran aground a year ago, and the same happened last September and December to boats carrying tourists.

The oil catastrophe is a warning that maritime regulations for approaching the islands must be reviewed, said Fernando Espinoza, head of the Charles Darwin Foundation.