The Association of Friends of Wine and Cheese of Lanzarote has formally presented its contributions to the Insular Council of Lanzarote and La Graciosa to demand effective regulation of the circulation of buggies, quads, and similar vehicles in the island's natural environment.
The entity considers that agricultural and livestock uses must have priority over tourist and recreational activities that use motor vehicles, especially when these may interfere with farm work, damage crops, or compromise the conservation of traditional rural landscapes.
The president of the Association, Mario Pérez Hernández, argues that "agricultural land must be, above all, at the service of those who work it and maintain it. Motorized tourist activities cannot take priority over agricultural and livestock activity or over the conservation of our rural heritage."
The Association calls for specific protection for areas such as La Geria, La Geria, traditional sandy areas, the crops of Malpaís de La Corona, and the agricultural plains of Guatiza and Femés, among other enclaves of special agricultural, landscape, and cultural value.
These are unique landscapes, built and preserved over generations, whose fragility demands regulation that establishes clear limits for motorized recreational and tourist uses.
Among its main proposals, the entity requests that the Council prepare and publish an official network of routes for motor vehicles, delimit areas of special sensitivity, and establish strict restrictions for organized excursions when there is a risk of erosion, soil degradation, crop damage, or impact on agricultural and livestock operations and landscape heritage.
Likewise, it calls for effective monitoring and control mechanisms, as well as the participation of the primary sector in the development and monitoring of future regulations. It also considers it essential to guarantee that farmers, winegrowers, and livestock farmers can access their farms and carry out their activities without interference.
The Association insists that its approach does not represent a general rejection of tourism, but rather the defense of a model that respects the land's capacity and recognizes the priority of those who live off and maintain the land.
"We are not facing a confrontation between tourism and agriculture. We are defending a reasonable priority: to guarantee the conservation of the territory and the work of our farmers, winegrowers, and ranchers, and to regulate motorized tourist activities so that they can be developed where they are compatible with these objectives," says Mario Pérez Hernández.
The entity recalls that Lanzarote's landscape is not preserved solely through protection declarations. It is maintained thanks to the daily work of farmers and ranchers, who take care of the crops, maintain the stone walls, preserve the rural roads, and pass down traditional knowledge from generation to generation.
Therefore, the Association hopes that the Cabildo will take into account the contributions presented and establish a regulation that guarantees the priority of agricultural and livestock activity, as well as the effective protection of Lanzarote's natural, landscape, and cultural heritage.
Finally, they say that "protecting the countryside is protecting our identity, our culture, and the future of agriculture and livestock farming in Lanzarote."
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