Prince Charles commits his support to the Charles Darwin Foundation to benefit Galápagos

From left: Peter Kramer, President of CDF, His Royal Highness Prince Charles and J. Gabriel López, Executive Director of CDF.

Puerto Ayora, March 16th of 2009. His Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales, participated in a symposium organized by the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) and pledged his aid and that of his Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment to work with the CDF in forging new sustainable development agreements between many parties in Galapagos.

After listening to the comments of a number of members of the CDF on the need to plan for the new reality of the islands, the Prince expressed enthusiasm for participating in the process. His foundation has been working in the area of sustainable development for the last 20 years. "Planning is key to correctly redirect the development of a society, and this can only achieved with the necessary agreements between all the involved parties," commented the Prince at the seminar, which addressed the different challenges (ecological, economic, and social) that confront Galápagos.

For his part, J. Gabriel Lopez, Executive Director of the CDF, thanked his Royal Highness for his commitment to the Foundation's efforts to integrate the socio-economic sciences into the scope of its research. "I congratulate his Royal Highness on the leadership he has assumed in this task of highlighting the most fundamental problems of the planet", said Dr. Lopez in his final remarks.

CDF Executive Council member Rodolfo Rendón, ex-Minister of the Environment of Ecuador, proposed to the Prince: "Galápagos is the optimal place to test the implementation of a truly sustainable model for the world. If we achieve can it here, we can do so in any other part of the planet. The Charles Darwin Foundation would very much like to count on your support in this mission that we have undertaken."