The beach of Playa Blanca in Lanzarote has received a Black Flag from Ecologists in Action in its 2004 report, for sewage contamination. Thus, the report has been starring "the touristification" of the Canary Islands, with these emblems also for the La Tejita and Cuna del Alma hotels in Tenerife and those located in Corralejo (Fuerteventura).
In its annual report, in which it inspects the more than 8,000 kilometers of the Spanish coastline , Ecologistas en Acción has awarded a total of 48 black flags for pollution and poor environmental management of the coasts and highlights one of the biggest social and environmental problems: the tourism and urbanization of the coast.
A problem that especially affects the Canary Islands, whose population is organized around the Canary Islands campaign has a limit with which attacks and threats that endanger the conservation of these islands and the future of future generations are reported, he has indicated. Ecologists in Action in a note.
In this regard, it points out that the Black Flags awarded in the Canary Islands reflect the list of "aggressions" to the coastline due to the action of hotel development with the authorization of public administrations.
In this way, the report reflects how the Oliva Beach and Tres Islas hotels, owned by RIU in Fuerteventura, are located within the public domain and in the middle of a natural space such as the Corralejo Dunes, while the Government of the Canary Islands, "far from "Defending the common good, compliance with the law and ensuring the restoration of the ecosystem has defended the interests of the offending company."
Also in Tenerife, the La Tejita and Cuna del Alma hotels, which were provisionally paralyzed for failing to comply with environmental laws, have been reactivated again by the Government of the Canary Islands, again for the benefit of the offending company, criticizes the environmental organization.
Furthermore, it indicates that the figure of “insular interest” is being used by the councils of La Palma and El Hierro to declare private macro-tourism projects of general interest , such as the La Frontera resort, in El Hierro, the golf course with villas of luxury of La Pavona and the Dichosa Wellness Clinic, in La Palma.
“These are some examples, among many others, that support this suicidal and limitless race that our leaders are betting on for the exclusive benefit of business interests,” said Pablo Díaz, spokesperson for Ben Magec-Ecologistas en Acción.
The environmental organization has pointed out that "the metabolism of tourist activity in the Canary Islands is highly intensive" in the requirement of large quantities of materials and energy that are not available, and in turn generates enormous quantities of waste and pollutants that are incapable of be assimilated by the territory itself.
The ecological footprint of the Canary Islands corresponds to that of a territory 27 times larger, says Ecologistas en Acción.
“In other words, we need a territory 27 times larger to satisfy all the demands of the economic model and development of the archipelago and hence we speak of the current model as an unsustainable and short-term model doomed to failure,” Pablo Díaz added.
The representative of Ben Magec, the Canarian federation of Ecologists in Action, has also pointed out that while the political class boasts of offering record figures in the massive arrival of tourists to the islands and exhibiting billion-dollar figures in profits, the Canary Islands hold another record, but in poverty and social inequality, with more than 35% of the population at risk of poverty and social exclusion, more than 13% in extreme poverty and an unemployment rate of 20%.
"It is essential that public institutions take the necessary measures to alleviate the gentrification that their neoliberal policies have favored. We must move towards a more redistributive fiscal model, that distributes wealth, that does not privatize profits while socializing losses, that bets for detouristification and also implement a finalist ecotax aimed at mitigating the environmental impacts that this activity produces,” he stated.
