The Galápagos Islands’ Status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Robert M. Ryerson has worked professionally as an independent Certified Financial Fiduciary (CFF) for nearly three decades. Also an educator, Robert M. Ryerson teaches high-level courses for the Society of Financial Awareness outside of his responsibilities at New Century Planning in New Jersey.

Away from his work, Mr. Ryerson enjoys traveling, especially to the Andes Mountains, and the Galápagos Islands. Located west of Ecuador, the Galápagos is a Pacific Ocean cluster of small islands classified as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. UNESCO outlines several factors that justify this status.

Perhaps most importantly, the island is home to an incredible diversity of underwater wildlife that cannot be matched by any other location. Moreover, extensive biodiversity can also be found on the island chain itself that range from giant tortoises and land iguanas to flightless cormorants and Darwin’s finches. 

Outside of the biology present on the Galápagos, the geography of the region also has value. The Nazca, Cocos and Pacific tectonic plates all meet in the region at the bottom of the ocean, providing a continuum of geological and biological features from ocean floor to island surface.