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A Conservation Challenge Biology Lost Paradise Conservation Opportunity Education is Key
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The Program Spring 2012 Curriculum Summer 2012 Curriculum Fall 2012 Curriculum Living Arrangements Request Application Material Cost Pay Tuition/App. Fees Online
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Staff Contact Us By Laws Nondiscriminatory Policy 2006 Financial Report 2007 Financial Report 2008 Financial Report 2009 Financial Report 2010 Financial Report

Welcome to the Homepage of IOI - The Isabela Oceanographic Institute

The Isabela Oceanographic Institute is a Florida-based non-profit organization. IOI’s base of operation is located in Puerto Villamil, Isabela, Galapagos, Ecuador. IOI provides a platform for merging international higher education with local development aid in education and conservation to create sustainable economic alternatives in this small community formerly dependent on fisheries.

Our Vision – a sustainable Galapagos - is to help establish an ecologically sustainable and stable social economy for the Galapagos archipelago by providing support in the education, conservation and development sectors.

Our mission – conservation through education – is to work in the island of Isabela to generate educational, economic and social benefits for the community of Puerto Villamil. IOI assists local institutions with the execution of existing long term projects, reinforces management and development of the education sector, and helps the community further investigate and sustainably make use of the human environmental interaction to increase understanding and protection of the local environment, thus generating benefits for the ecosystem as well as for local ecotourism.

The mission of IOI converges with that of the community to become a model for ecotourism. IOI aims to generate social and economic benefits and conservation through local participatory and educational approaches and provides support for the local education system through teacher placements and various other educational projects.

The goal is a community asset creating new sources of income and education beyond fisheries, an open forum for dialogues on participatory conservation and development, exchange of critical thought leading to human/environmental balance in Galapagos as well as providing top level academic education in the natural and social sciences to local and international college students.

Thank you for your interest and please enjoy our Website.

Sincerely,
Johann Besserer
President IOI