JOIN US''By a vote of 14 to five, with one abstention,'' the committee removed the islands from its endangered environments list, where it was included in 2007, said Brazil's Culture Ministry, which presides over this week's committee meeting in Brasilia.
"It's important to recognise the Ecuadoran government's effort in protecting and preserving this heritage site," Brazilian Heritage Institute president Luiz Fernando de Almeida said yesterday in a statement.
Brazil had requested that the Galapagos be removed from the endangered list.
Located 1,000 kilometres west of Ecuador's coast, the Galapagos archipelago of 13 main islands and 17 islets has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978 for its rich plant and animal life both on land and in the surrounding sea.
In 2007, the organisation declared the island chain's environment endangered due to the increase of tourism and the introduction of invasive species.
Some 10,000 people, mostly fishermen, live on the volcanic archipelago, which rose from the Pacific seabed 10 million years ago and became famous when Darwin visited to conduct research in 1835.