The Canarian ecologist federation Ben Magec - Ecologistas en Acción, as one of the organizers of the mobilizations of next October 20, has issued a press release on Wednesday morning to encourage the Canarian citizens to join the demonstrations that will take place on October 20 under the slogan Canarias tiene un límite (Canary Islands has a limit) and that seek to follow the trail of the massive claims of last April 20.
"It is necessary to take to the streets to claim our rights and walk together towards a better future for the islands," they indicated. "The current tense situation of the archipelago, with records of tourists without limit or control, the massification and deterioration of natural spaces, the collapse of roads and public services, the lack of water or the difficulties in accessing housing are some of the reasons that motivate the protests" that will be carried out this Sunday.
Ecologistas en Acción has indicated that "citizens have been demanding for years, in the face of the passivity of political leaders, a change in the current tourism model for a sustainable one that respects not only the territory, but also the people who live in it. To achieve this, a series of urgent measures are necessary, such as an ecotax, a tourism and vacation moratorium and also the regulation of the purchase of homes for non-residents."
To the list of environmental and territorial problems are added, in addition, "the social problems derived from an unlimited and uncontrolled tourism model that hinders access to housing for Canarians, with a rise in vacation rentals and the purchase of properties by the European population, increasing the price of housing to unaffordable figures with our salaries." A crisis that, far from being resolved, "worsens on all the islands and causes people with employment and income to be unable to access housing while empty houses, second homes for Europeans and entire buildings for vacation rentals continue to increase."
This problem also translates into "an unprecedented massification of the islands, reaching 2.2 million inhabitants in 2023, with a 7.5% increase in new residents of European origin, more than 300,000 people, representing 14.5% of the total population of the islands." In addition to an uncontrolled increase that is in turn generating "the collapse of Canarian public services, mainly health, but also affecting other sectors such as education or justice."
Ben Magec - Ecologistas en Acción has pointed out that "despite the tourist records that are exceeded year after year and the millions of euros generated by the tourism industry in the islands, almost 34% of the Canarian population, about 800,000 people, are at risk of poverty or social exclusion," figures well above the state average that place us as the second community with the worst data, only behind Andalusia.
Thus, water scarcity is another of the factors that aggravate the current situation of the Canarian population, which sees how while water consumption is restricted in their towns, "the tourism industry continues to make irresponsible use of this resource by filling swimming pools or watering golf courses, consuming up to six times more water than the resident population."
In general, "a situation of social and environmental collapse in the face of which public leaders have no response nor seek solutions and further aggravate by systematically refusing to carry out any measure that serves to control a problem that years ago passed the limits."
The association has considered that "it is inadmissible that after the mobilizations of April 20, in which more than 200,000 people inside and outside the islands demanded measures to limit the mass tourism that is expelling us from our territory, the public institutions have stepped on the accelerator of destruction by approving new tourism projects that do nothing but enlarge the wound and worsen the unsustainable situation suffered by both the natural spaces of the islands and those who inhabit them."
"A tourism and vacation moratorium is urgently needed to put a stop to uncontrolled speculation and the rise of vacation homes, an ecotax that generates income that allows us to address the deterioration of our environment and a regulation of the purchase of housing by non-residents, who with their greater purchasing power are increasing the market in the islands and making it impossible for the local population to access them, expelling us from our towns and neighborhoods. On October 20 we will take to the streets again, this time in tourist areas, to demand what we have been demanding for decades: Canary Islands has a limit."