The Canary Agency for the Protection of the Natural Environment opened 2,042 infraction files in the archipelago last year, most of them in relation to construction licenses, which represents an increase of 18.07% compared to 2023.
These are some of the data that have been released this Thursday during a conference organized by the Nature Protection Service (Seprona) of the Civil Guard on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of environmental legislation in Spain, in which representatives of the three levels of administration in the Canary Islands have participated and which has taken place in the Cabildo of Gran Canaria.
According to these data released by the director of the Agency, Montserrat Ortega, 1,113 of the open files have to do with construction licenses; another 432 with waste discharges, including hazardous ones, and up to 281 with licenses that are not construction-related.
In its entire history, since it was founded in 1999, the Canary Agency for the Protection of the Natural Environment has opened 61,128 files, with the most "prolific" year being 2006, with 3,812 - of which more than half had to do with waste -.
In his opening speech of this conference, the president of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, pointed out that this is an "opportunity to look back with a critical sense", but also to the future "with ambition" to improve what already exists in terms of nature protection.
In his speech, Morales praised the work carried out by Seprona since its foundation, recognizing and thanking that work, and called for the unity of the administrations to prosecute environmental crimes, monitor protected areas, control the use of the territory and invasive alien species, as well as carry out training and awareness-raising tasks.
And it is that "protecting our environment is not an option: it is an obligation towards present and future generations", concluded his speech the island president, who highlighted the "eco-island" model that his government has championed since his arrival at the island institution in 2015.
For his part, the Deputy Minister of Administrations and Transparency of the Government of the Canary Islands, Antonio Llorens, has advocated for specialized training as key "to address the challenges of the future" in the protection of nature and the fight against environmental crime, also emphasizing the need to achieve laws that are "more effective and fair".
In his opinion, the "consolidation of democracy" has brought with it greater care of the institutions for the environment and has made it a "central element" of the public agenda at all levels of the central, regional and local administration.
Llorens has also assured that "defending the environment is defending the common good", and that is why he has appealed for an important work of citizen awareness to bring the values of nature closer to society.
The general head of the Civil Guard in the Canary Islands, Juan Hernández Mosquera, also spoke at the opening of these conferences, who recalled the "terrible environmental crisis" that is currently affecting the planet, with climate change, the loss of biodiversity and pollution as central elements.
"They represent a civic responsibility that we must promote. Thus, the Civil Guard added in our sustainability plan the firm commitment to conserve this biodiversity allied with the sustainable development goals promoted by both the 2030 agenda of the United Nations and its respective resolutions," he delved.
With these conferences, which will take place this Friday in Tenerife, the Civil Guard intends to join forces and assess what these five decades of environmental legislation in Spain have been, as well as try to investigate how this matter will evolve in the coming years.
