Galápagos approves mandatory 2026-2030 plan against marine plastic pollution

The Galápagos National Park Directorate issued the Plan for the Reduction, Mitigation, and Management of Marine Plastic Pollution in the Galápagos Islands, which is mandatory and has a five-year horizon (2026-2030). The decision is contained in Resolution No. MAE-PNG/DIR-2026-0046-RM, signed in Puerto Ayora on September 3, 2026, and published in the Official Registry, Supplement No. 371, on Thursday, September 17, 2026. The instrument was signed by Mgs. Lorena Katherine Sánchez Saritama, acting director of the Galápagos National Park.

A Mandatory Public Policy Instrument

Article 2 of the resolution declares the Plan a technical and institutional public policy instrument of mandatory application in its first stage of implementation. Article 3 extends this character to the administrative, technical, and operational units of the Galápagos National Park Directorate (DPNG) and also to public institutions, non-governmental organizations, academia, cooperating agencies, and the productive sector participating in its execution through current agreements or contracts.

The Plan is articulated complementarily with the Management Plan for the Galápagos Protected Areas for Good Living and with the Hermandad Marine Reserve Management Plan. Its regulatory basis includes the Organic Law for the Rationalization, Reuse, and Reduction of Single-Use Plastics, published in the Official Registry No. 354, Third Supplement, of December 21, 2020, its regulation issued via Executive Decree No. 1342, and Resolution No. 05-CGREG-2015 of the Government Council of the Special Regime of Galápagos.

Three Strategic Axes and Estimated Budget

Article 5 establishes the three strategic objectives of the Plan as mandatory axes of institutional management:

• Improve information management and increase knowledge about marine plastic pollution through monitoring and research.
• Reduce, prevent, and mitigate the impacts of marine plastic pollution through coastal cleanup campaigns, the management of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs), and community awareness.
• Strengthen multisectoral governance for the reduction, mitigation, and management of marine plastic pollution.

The budget estimate for the Plan amounts to 1,718,200.00 dollars, with an estimated contribution from the DPNG of 179,000.00 dollars; adding the institutional in-kind contribution—technical personnel, vessels, facilities, and representation—the total reaches 1,897,200.00 dollars. The financing strategy combines state budget, international cooperation, debt-for-nature swaps, trust funds, and private sector contributions.

Documented Impacts on Tourism and Fishing

The Plan’s diagnosis documents that tourism represents more than 80% of the direct economic income of Galápagos and that the presence of waste in visited areas generates additional cleaning costs for the DPNG and local governments, in addition to compromising the destination’s reputation. In artisanal fishing, the contact of gear with plastics and drifting marine debris causes losses due to damage to nets, lines, and buoys, with estimated costs of up to 4,000 dollars per incident per vessel.

Among the figures supporting the Plan are 52 species found entangled or with ingested plastic, 20 of them endemic; more than 2,500 microplastics per square meter on the most contaminated beaches; and 69% of the plastic items found on the coasts corresponding to single-use products. The Coastal Cleanup Program accumulated 704 sessions, 1,495 kilometers covered across 9 islands, 7,327 volunteers, and 107.48 tons of marine litter collected.

Governance, monitoring, and deadlines

The Environmental Management Directorate of the DPNG will exercise the technical and operational leadership of the Plan, in coordination with the Ecosystems Directorate, the Environmental Education and Social Participation Directorate, and the technical units of San Cristóbal, Isabela, and Floreana. Article 9 provides for periodic progress reports and, at least, one mid-term evaluation and one final evaluation.

The sole transitional provision grants a period of ninety days from the issuance of the resolution for the Environmental Management Directorate to coordinate the installation of multisectoral governance spaces, define monitoring indicators, and socialize the Plan. The formulation was supported by the Galapagos Conservation Trust (GCT), Conservation International Ecuador (CI-Ecuador), the University of Exeter, and the Pacific Plastics: Science to Solutions (PPSS) network, and with the participation of the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MAE), the CGREG, the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries (MPCEIP), the Navy Oceanographic and Antarctic Institute (INOCAR), the GADs of Santa Cruz, San Cristóbal, and Isabela, and the Charles Darwin Foundation (FCD).

The Plan converts a transboundary problem into a verifiable institutional obligation: tour operators, the artisanal fishing sector, and the island communities will, for the first time, have goals, indicators, and a monitoring system formally enforceable before the archipelago’s environmental authority.

Source: Official Registry, Supplement No. 371, Thursday, September 17, 2026, section I (Executive Branch), p. 6 (official reference: MAE-PNG/DIR-2026-0046-RM).