The Building Project and Conservation Model
Santa Cruz Gardens is as much a building project as it is a model for sustainable development. Environmental impact studies were carried out, and advice was sought from national and local governments as well as the local population, in order to give the project benefits from as many relevant and knowledgeable insights as practicable before setting guiding principles. Many of the unyielding policy-oriented practices for socially and environmentally responsible ecotourism at SCG, are SCG’s voluntary initiatives.
For instance, the SCG model was developed with the Charles Darwin Research Foundation, (CDRF), advising upon and managing the endemic species programs and the gardens (click here to download the handbook of endemic plants that SCG allows to be planted). SCG has also gained approval from the local administration and was awarded a prize for town planning from the Municipality of Puerto Ayora.
Replanting of indigenous trees at SCG (right) 
Through voluntary example (set at a time when sustainable development had not yet become a buzz word), the SCG model seeks to integrate Galapagos locals in ways that will improve their lives and the land, encourage other sectors of the economy, involve local communities, protect cultures from over-commercialisation, and guard precious natural resources from degradation. Rather than just a one-off plan for itself, the blueprints are designed so the benefits can be replicated elsewhere on the island, to ensure that the idea of sustainable development is properly applied on Galapagos.
(For further insight into the building process itself, please see "The Development" section)