REVIEWS
INTO ANOTHER DIMENSION
HYBRID PERSPECTIVE
GALAPAGOS 3D With David Attenborough, Sky TV, 2013
I
t took a collaboration with Sky 3D to bring Sir David Attenborough back to Galapagos for a third time. Over three episodes – Origin, Adaptation and Evolution – this ground-breaking documentary showcases the incredible natural history and biodiversity of the Archipelago as never before. One of the most significant highlights is the rare footage of the pink land iguana that inhabits Wolf Volcano at the northern end of Isabela. Genetic analysis of the tiny population suggests this species diverged from other land iguanas more than five million years ago. Yet incredibly, it was completely unknown until 1986 and only formally described as a new species (Conolophus marthae) in 2009. In another particularly poignant scene, we get a last glimpse of Lonesome George. Attenborough crawls side by side with this sole-surviving tortoise from the northerly island of Pinta and explains that
EPIC ARCHIPELAGO ISLAND: A STORY OF THE GALAPAGOS
By Jason Chin, Roaring Book Press, 2012, £10.85, ISBN 9781596437166
22
GALAPAGOS MATTERS
when he dies his species will go extinct. He could not have guessed how soon this would happen, just two weeks after filming in June 2012. Although I watched in 2D, it is clear this is a documentary made for the 3D format. For instance, the combination of clever computer graphics and stateof-the-art filming technology is used to expose the Galapagos hotspot, the gigantic column of molten rock responsible for the formation of the Archipelago, and to show how the islands age from west to east, where they are gradually disappearing beneath the ocean. Galapagos 3D is a documentary to be savoured by everyone, from those who know little about the Islands to lifelong residents. Above all, it shows just how much is at stake in these Enchanted Isles. Reviewed by Akemi Yokoyama
T
his is quite simply the finest children’s book on Galapagos I’ve come across. In Island, children’s author and artist Jason Chin has produced an epic tale of the Archipelago and covered six million years into the bargain. His brilliantly original approach is to follow the story of a typical island from its explosive birth, through the process of colonisation, until it finally erodes back beneath the waves in the not-too-distant geological past. But not before it has handed its flora and fauna, baton-like, on to the current configuration of islands we call Galapagos. The text is to the point, the illustrations are stunning and the use of storyboard-like snapshots through evolutionary time are a perfect way to capture the brutal, yet creative force of natural selection. Once Chin’s imaginary island has disappeared “below the waves forever”, an epilogue nods to the present with the arrival of Charles Darwin on board HMS Beagle. All said, Island is the perfect introduction to the natural history of Galapagos for anyone from the age of five and up. Reviewed by Henry Nicholls
SCIENCE AND CONSERVATION IN THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS: FRAMEWORKS AND PERSPECTIVES By Stephen J. Walsh and Carlos F. Mena (eds), Springer, 2013, £90, ISBN 9781461457930
A
t the heart of Science and Conservation in the Galapagos Islands is the premise that socioeconomic investigations of the Archipelago have largely been neglected. This collection of papers by prominent researchers from Ecuador and around the world addresses essential questions on which future research should be set. How, for example, should conservation objectives be coupled with the economic objectives and aspirations of local communities, and to what degree does the increasing connectivity with the continent threaten the integrity of the archipelago? Ultimately, the main contribution of this edited volume is to provide some explanation of how the focus of both research and policies in Galapagos have evolved into a new hybrid perspective through which not only conservation objectives but also the promotion of sustainable economic and social activities for the local communities have come to be considered fundamental. This novel perspective, as the authors explain, is the main driver of a different scientific and policy approach in which humans are no longer considered an invasive species but rather an important component of the Galapagos ecology. Reviewed by Santiago J. Bucaram