Located 1000 km west of the Ecuadorian coast, in the Pacific Ocean, the Galapagos National Park was created under executive decree N-17, in 1959, seeing the need to protect the unique environment, the National Assembly of Ecuador passed protective legislation and created wildlife sanctuaries on some of the islands. Then, in 1959, as 95% of the islands and 50,000 sq miles of surrounding ocean was granted protection, an organization of scientists and conservationists established the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Charles Darwin Research Center, which officially opened in 1964. Four years later, the Galapagos National Park Service was formed. UNESCO to place the Galapagos Islands on the World Heritage List in 1978, thereby bringing significant international pressure towards safeguarding this unique environment.
The Galapagos National Park Service works hand in hand with the Charles Darwin Research Station implementing their common goals of conservation and preservations of the natural resources with the Galapagos National Park and Galapagos Marine Reserve. In 1986, the creation of the Marine Resources Reserve expanded the preserved area to include more than 27,000 square miles of ocean.