Four researchers from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) have presented a report to the Government of the Canary Islands, the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the City Council of Teguise warning of the damage that the extraction of aggregates in the Muñique area is causing to the ecosystem and demanding that the activity cease. In addition, they urge the authorities "to adopt the measures they deem appropriate to ensure adequate conservation of this protected area."
The researchers who sign this opinion - Juan Carlos Alonso, Carlos Palacín, Alberto Ucero and Inmaculada Abril - are part of the Research Group on Ecology and Conservation of Birds of the CSIC, and are precisely in the Canary Islands developing the project "Foraging areas and movements of the Canarian houbara". The work, financed by REE, was promoted by the Ministry of Territorial Policy, Sustainability and Security of the Government of the Canary Islands. Now, these researchers are addressing the same regional Executive, in this case the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, to stop authorizing these extractions, as they are affecting the houbara itself, which is in danger of extinction, as well as other species.
In this regard, they recall that this quarry was authorized within a ZEPA area, a space protected by the Natura 2000 Network, and that it also coincides with a part of the habitat of community interest, with "mobile dunes", with a place of sedimentological interest and with an area of jable crops. "It is the main area through which the sands that cross the island penetrate and form the largest area of jable and dunes of Lanzarote," they emphasize.
"It is expanding year after year"
The report indicates that the extraction area is "approximately 388 ha", but warns that "it is expanding year after year". In addition, it warns that there are new extractions planned in this same area: one of them promoted by Dobegui Arrecife S.L. and another by Hormigones y Construcciones Arrecife S.L. And all this, in the area where most of the houbara population that remains on the island is concentrated.
In this regard, the experts refer to their own study, in which they estimated the census of houbaras in Lanzarote in 2018 at about 440-452 specimens, "one of its most stable nuclei and with a greater number of individuals being found precisely in the Jable de Muñique-SooFamara, an area affected by the extraction of aggregates", which is "one of the most important areas for the species in Lanzarote".
"The Canarian subspecies of houbara bustard is considered 'endangered' in the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species. The loss or alteration of its habitat is one of the main problems affecting its conservation, and any modification of part of the habitat by extractive activities violates Directive 92/43/EEC on Habitats (LIC) and Directive 2009/147/EC on Birds (ZEPA)", the researchers warn.
"Non-compliance with restoration measures"
To this they add that as a consequence of this activity, "not only can there be a direct and permanent loss of habitat, but also damage to the surrounding habitats, due to dust, noise, creation of new tracks, circulation of trucks, use of heavy machinery and human presence".
"This area is degraded after the extractions and due to the non-compliance with the restoration measures by the concessionaires, which means that it is used by the unconscientious population for the dumping of rubble and belongings, creation of illegal circuits for off-road motorcycles, quads, 4x4 cars, etc.", they add.
In addition, they emphasize that the extractive activity not only affects the houbara, but also other species that use that habitat, such as the Saharan courser, the stone curlew, the trumpeter bullfinch and the Barbary partridge, and "may have significant impacts on the rest of the species that make up a terrestrial ornithic community that can be described as unique, both nationally and internationally". As for other vertebrates present in the area, they highlight "the reptiles, with two species, Gallotia atlantica and Tarentola angustimentalis, and the mammals, among which the Canarian shrew should be mentioned".
In their report they attach two graphs of the area, to reflect the negative effect that the activity is causing, which has generated "an area of exclusion in one of the main distribution areas of the species in Lanzarote". "The density of houbara locations that defines the intensity of habitat use by the species should be the same in the extraction area as in its surroundings, if the extractive activity did not exist," they warn, expressing their fear that the situation will worsen if the extraction area continues to expand and if new projects are authorized.
