| LANZAROTE
IN THE BIOSPHERE: A STRATEGY FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT OF A SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
ISLAND APPLICATION OF LOCAL AGENDA 21 TO LANZAROTE, BIOSPHERE RESERVE. DOCUMENT FOR THE
DEBATE.
"Man, since ever he emerged as a species,
has extended his territory to the last frontiers of the planet. The anthropic invasion,
given the premises of the biological particularity of humankind, was fundamentally a
natural fact in the same way as the invasion of a region by grasshoppers in determined
conditions. However, with the same spontaneity, having eaten all there was to be eaten,
the grasshoppers die.
To avoid suffering the same fate, man must use his intelligence, his
capacity for prediction: to respect the balance of nature is in no way a natural conduct.
It is an extremely cultural behaviour and, accordingly, is highly artificial. The former
hunter in the savannah must restrain his predatory instinct."
"It is intended to develop a new culture based not only on man's technical skills,
but also on his wisdom, not only as a way to modify nature, but also to understand it; a
culture in which man is not only capable of endowing the artificial with new qualities,
but also of guaranteeing continuity of the fragile natural substrate on which the whole of
existence and his own life expectancy are based."
Enzio Manzini ("Devices. Towards a new artificial environment
ecology") |
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THE NEED FOR A CHANGE OF DIRECTION.
As the new century begins, Lanzarote needs to change direction and reconsider its future.
We all have the intuition, and the indicators developed by the technical team responsible
for preparing the Lanzarote in the Biosphere Strategy (L+B.S.) confirm this: that if we
insist on developing the Island on the basis of a population increase, more particularly
with regard to tourism, and on increasingly unsustainable consumer patterns, then we will
jeopardise satisfactory development of the Island.
The information obtained during work on the Strategy confirms a widespread feeling among
the population of Lanzarote. The rapid growth of tourism during the past twenty years has
not, thanks to the ideas put forward by the group led by César Manrique, caused such
negative effects as those of other coastal areas of the country; but neither can this be
used as an indisputable reference for the future. It is true that many admire our
situation, and we must not forget that tourism has enabled us to survive emigration and
improve the hard living conditions of a high percentage of the island population. But
neither can we overlook that this expansion has brought about tremendously expensive
consequences which no-one has yet quantified.
How can we appraise the impact on environmental and landscape transformations during these
years? What can we say with regard to the cultural identity induced by the speed of
transformations that have taken place at an incredible speed? How can we appreciate that
the Island has the greatest population imbalance in the Canary Islands? What margin of the
loading capacity of a finite and vulnerable system such as Lanzarote has been consumed so
hastily and irreversibly? It is not a matter of meaninglessly asking ourselves before the
mirror about a time gone by, but of taking a few lessons in order to approach the future
in responsibly.
Let us talk about that future. Everything seems to indicate that unless we move away from
the Island's perspective and interests, expansive international market trends, the scale,
rhythm and growth conditions of tourism will eventually cause further degradation of the
insluar system. Studies have qualified this as a "risk scenario", in which in
little more than one twenty-year generation Lanzarote will have a population of around
200,000 persons, 75,000 of whom will be tourists, thus overloading and transforming the
Island in relation to the way we know and enjoy it.
But this time there will be no positive compensation for the majority of the population,
but quite the opposite; not only will progress of the insular economy become more and more
fragile, and the risks of social disintegration more acute, but the insular ecosystem and
standard of living on the Island will also deteriorate. And this deterioration cannot be
attributed, solely and exclusively, to an uncontrolled expansion of tourism, but also to a
more and more numerous resident population, which is less aware of the limitations and
fragilities of the Island
We must dare to change direction; the contrary would be reckless and would entail a group
liability. And fortunately, we are still in time.
Five months ago, the Cabildo undertook to discuss with the inhabitants of Lanzarote a
proposal for a different future. We now present this proposal, which we have called the
"Lanzarote in the Biosphere" Strategy, because it attempts to offer a response
to the undertaking assumed on account of our incorporation in 1993 into the UNESCO World
Network of Biosphere Reserves.
An ambitious Strategy, which has two core objectives: to preserve the basic equilibrium of
the insular system and to improve the standard of living of the population of Lanzarote
and its visitors. A Strategy which is not addressed from an impossible conservationist
standpoint, nor against tourism on which we depend for our living and which we will
continue to support, but from an approach aimed at sustainability and compatibility
between the human, economic and ecological needs of the Island.
The accomplishment of these objectives will require moderation of human pressure on the
system and re-routing the development of the Island based on two main premises: containing
the increase in population -having assumed the demographic evolution of residents- and
centring attention on limiting the growth of tourism to scales and rhythms that are
compatible with the Island's capacity for assimilation; and re-pointing certain key issues
of the insular system using criteria for sustainability.
The Strategy we propose to debate is intended to create a process of discussion and
consensus, in which these premises can be defined with the broadest social support
possible. And this is mainly for two reasons. Firstly, because the transformation required
by Lanzarote can only be accomplished if these is a broad social consensus regarding the
basic problems of the Island and by undertaking the difficult task of working in
collaboration with others in order to establish a common project. And secondly, because
the Cabildo has opted to offer an open and very extensive list of possible measures, and
it is therefore fundamental for the discussion among the inhabitants of Lanzarote to put
forward guidelines in relation to their interest and priorities.
With these premises, the Strategy presented by the Cabildo puts forward two main Lines of
Action which, in turn, contain 28 possible Programmes for Action.
The most important Line of Action proposed refers to the establishment of a ten-year
Moratorium which will limit the rhythm of tourism growth in ten years time to eight
thousand new tourist places, which will give the inhabitants of Lanzarote time to define
and address the future of the Island in a sustainable manner. This proposal is based on
the appreciation that such growth rates can still be assimilated by the Island, provided
at all times that a series of parallel measures are developed in order to direct insular
development towards more sustainable bases than at the present time.
Getting a measure of this nature under way signifies a major challenge for the Cabildo and
mayors of the island, and will require generosity on behalf of everyone, in addition to a
broad social support. The recent initiative adopted by the Balearic Government, in similar
terms, encourages us to work in this direction, without overlooking the fact that,
meanwhile, the Insular Plans for Territorial Regulation, one of the most valuable
creations of the Canary Islands, which permitted disqualification of more than 200,000
tourist places in Lanzarote a few years ago, are now involved in legal proceedings that
could weaken their capacity for regulating the islands as integrated units.
The remaining eight Lines and Programmes for Action addressed cover a broad range of major
issues, which vary from reflection on the matter of the cultural identity of the island to
the preservation of social vertebration and peaceful co-existence; from the need to boost
an economic and tourism strategy that will be compatible with the insular system, to the
opportunity to encourage capital status and integral reinstatement of Arrecife, from
preservation of the insular ecology and biodiversity to the creation of an Observatory on
the progress and standard of living in the Island, or the sustainable management of key
environmental sectors such as water, energy, residues or transport.
To conclude, we must accept that the debate now being opened will only succeed if it
finally leads to a true INSULAR PACT supported by insular institutions, political forces,
mayors and economic and social representatives, with regard to a series of specific
undertakings in order to direct the future of the Island towards more sustainable bases.
This is an authentic challenge to lucidity, political will and, above all, to generosity,
particularly by those who hold public offices in the government or in the opposition.
Because, let us not deceive ourselves, only we, together, each and every one of us, to the
extent of his or her responsibility, can make this future possible.
Enrique Pérez Parrilla
President of the Cabildo of Lanzarote
March, 1998
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