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Galapagos’ Water Management Evaluation Under a Changing Climate and the Current COVID-19 Pandemic

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Water, Food and Human Health in the Galapagos, Ecuador

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the Galapagos as a socio-ecosystem and addresses the interactions of social and environmental systems amidst important transformations that the Islands are experiencing. We look at two of the most important threats to the Galapagos socio-ecosystem, the current COVID-19 pandemic and the possible effects of climate change as they affect and are affected by the water security of the islands. Water availability in both the urban and the rural areas is examined as a key factor that affects the resilience of the people who reside in the islands and their capacity to adapt and withstand dramatic and often catastrophic changes. We also consider the way different institutions and strategies have operated, usually in a top-down fashion in generating projects to increase the capacity of the Islands to adapt to climate change, and we examine the effectiveness of some of these often expensive projects. Thus, the main goal of this analysis is to understand how these critical threats harm Galapagos local community and economy, both in the short and long term by taking into account the success and failures of past projects, and then explore possible actions and plans to address them.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Instituto Biósfera, Quito, Ecuador

    Cristina Mateus & Diego Quiroga

  2. Galapagos Science Center, Galapagos, Ecuador

    Cristina Mateus & Diego Quiroga

Authors
  1. Cristina Mateus
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  2. Diego Quiroga
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cristina Mateus .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Amanda L. Thompson

  2. Escuela de Ingenieria, Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia

    Valeria Ochoa-Herrera

  3. Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Colegio de Ciencias de la Salud, Quito, Ecuador

    Enrique Teran

Apppendix

Apppendix

Table A1 Government plans and funding addressing climate change and water quantity issues in Santa Cruz, San Cristobal, and Isabela islands. The amount invested on each island for these plans are not specified
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Table A2 Government plans addressing climate change and water quantity issues in Santa Cruz Island
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Table A3 Government plans addressing water quality issues in San Cristobal Island and Isabela Island
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Mateus, C., Quiroga, D. (2022). Galapagos’ Water Management Evaluation Under a Changing Climate and the Current COVID-19 Pandemic. In: Thompson, A.L., Ochoa-Herrera, V., Teran, E. (eds) Water, Food and Human Health in the Galapagos, Ecuador. Social and Ecological Interactions in the Galapagos Islands. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92411-9_3

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