Splendor Water is proud to serve as an Official Conservation Ambassador of the Galápagos Islands, a designation stemming from our conservation partnership with Fundación Jocotocoand our shared commitment to protecting one of the most extraordinary ecosystems on Earth.
Since 2022, Splendor has contributed $33,000 annually to Fundación Jocotoco — a total of $165,000 through 2026 — supporting critical conservation efforts across the Galápagos Islands.
Our work began with the protection of one of the archipelago's most vulnerable endemic species, the Galápagos petrel, and has since expanded into a much larger mission: controlling invasive species, restoring native habitat, monitoring ecosystem recovery and helping prepare Floreana Island for the return of species that have disappeared from the island.
Our Impact at a Glance
Over the past five years, our partnership with Fundación Jocotoco has helped support:
- 2.4 kilometers of protective fencing around critical Galápagos petrel habitat
- Improved reproductive success among endangered Galápagos petrel chicks
- Protection and monitoring of seven petrel nesting colonies
- A 350-kilometer monitoring network supporting restoration across Floreana Island
- More than 100 camera traps supporting island-wide ecological monitoring
- 1,150 invasive trees treated or removed as native habitat is restored
- Conservation of an island ecosystem supporting 61 globally threatened species, including 18 found nowhere else on Earth
- The return of native wildlife, including Naesiotus land snails now being observed again in abundance
- Progress toward the reintroduction of native species once lost from Floreana
Together, those results tell a much bigger story: one that began by protecting a single endangered species and has grown into helping restore an entire island ecosystem.
Protecting the Galápagos Petrel
Our partnership began on San Cristóbal Island, where Fundación Jocotoco protects important nesting habitat for the critically endangered Galápagos petrel.
These remarkable seabirds spend most of their lives at sea, returning to the highlands of just five Galápagos islands to reproduce. They nest underground and produce only one egg per breeding season, making every successful nest particularly important. Introduced rats, cats, pigs and other mammals can prey on the birds or destroy the vegetation and nesting habitat on which they depend.
One of the first major projects supported through our partnership was the construction of 2.4 kilometers of specialized protective fencing around Los Petreles Reserve, designed to prevent invasive and introduced mammals from entering critical nesting habitat.
The result wasn't simply a safer boundary. Fundación Jocotoco observed significantly reduced pig presence, less erosion and recovering habitat — alongside improved reproductive success among Galápagos petrel chicks.
It was an early example of how removing a single pressure from an ecosystem can give nature the opportunity to begin repairing itself.
From Protecting a Species to Restoring an Island
That same philosophy now extends to Floreana Island, where Fundación Jocotoco is undertaking a far more ambitious challenge: restoring an island ecosystem altered by generations of introduced species.
Floreana is home to 61 globally threatened plant and animal species, including 18 found nowhere else in the world.
After years of planning, a major invasive-species eradication effort began in late 2023. The work has since shifted toward intensive monitoring and ecological recovery — with the ultimate goal of creating the conditions to reintroduce native species that have been locally extinct from Floreana.
Conservation teams now work across an extraordinary 350-kilometer trail network, using more than 100 camera traps throughout the island to monitor recovery and detect remaining threats. Rangers spend days at a time in the field, often covering at least 10 kilometers per day as they work systematically across the island.
Earlier phases of the work also included treating or removing 1,150 invasive trees and opening more than 30 kilometers of monitoring trails, helping conservationists reach and restore areas across the island.
Signs of an Ecosystem Coming Back to Life
Perhaps the most powerful measure of the project's progress is that native species are beginning to respond.
Following the removal of invasive rodents and cats, Fundación Jocotoco reported that native Naesiotus land snails are once again being observed in abundance on Floreana, alongside renewed observations of native bird species. Around 20 species of these land snails occur on Floreana, making their resurgence a meaningful sign of ecological recovery.
At the same time, the restoration work is moving Floreana closer to an even more ambitious milestone: the reintroduction of endemic and native species that disappeared from the island.
That is the through line of this partnership. What began by creating a safer nesting ground for one critically endangered seabird has evolved into something much larger — removing the pressures preventing nature from recovering and creating the conditions for entire ecosystems to rebuild.
Protecting the Places That Give Us Life
Splendor Water comes from Ecuador's extraordinary natural environment. Protecting that natural heritage isn't separate from our mission — it is part of it.
Our partnership with Fundación Jocotoco began with a very tangible goal: give the Galápagos petrel a safer place to nest. Five years later, that work has become part of a much broader effort to restore native habitat, bring wildlife back and ultimately return species to an island where they once disappeared.
As an Official Conservation Ambassador of the Galápagos Islands through our partnership with Fundación Jocotoco, we are proud to play a role in that work.
Because conservation isn't only about protecting what remains. It's about creating the conditions for nature to return.
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