Image: Sergio Betancort
The island councilor of the Biosphere Reserve, Juan Antonio de la Hoz, accompanied by the president of the group for the women of Lanzarote, Mararía; and the artist Ildefonso Aguilar, presented this morning, Thursday, October 31, 2013, the XX Mararía Conference. This edition is dedicated to the XX anniversary of the Lanzarote Biosphere Reserve, and focused on developing strategies and acquiring commitments for future sustainability.
The Cabildo, through the Biosphere Reserve Area, participates and collaborates with these Conferences, whose objectives coincide and converge with the European guidelines for conservation and sustainable development for the year 2020. They will be held on November 14, 15 and 16 at the headquarters of the Sociedad La Democracia, in Arrecife, and includes conferences, workshops, audiovisual projections and a round table with relevant personalities linked to the protection of the environment and the Biosphere Reserve of the island of volcanoes.
In his speech, De la Hoz pointed out that "the best gift we can give to the Biosphere Reserve and Lanzarote for its 20th anniversary is that we know what we want to do in the coming years." "We are working on this," -added the councilor- "coordinated with the other areas of the Cabildo, and we must add the important help of two technicians from the Spanish Sustainability Observatory who have chosen the Lanzarote Biosphere Reserve from among all the existing ones and are preparing a specific study on sustainability."
"For us," -he continued- "this fact is very significant and we are very grateful and fortunate to have been the choice of these technicians and for their work, which will allow us to have a Island Sustainability Plan soon, as well as a specific sustainability plan for each of the island's municipalities. A Plan that has been made with the participation of everyone, which is convergent with the set of European strategies for the period 2014-2020 and that will mark the lines of action for, at least, the next six years."
De la Hoz also pointed out that "this strategy contemplates fields and subjects such as biodiversity, energy, water, waste treatment, land management, tourism, social cohesion, or activities of the primary sector, among others." The councilor also pointed out "the importance of having the collaboration of social groups, especially Mararía, which was born in 1993, the same year in which Lanzarote obtained the declaration of Biosphere Reserve; with which, in addition, it has maintained a total convergence in these 20 years and in the organization of these Conferences."
Acknowledgements
The president of the Social and Cultural association for women, Mararía, Nieves Rosa Hernández, focused her speech on showing "our gratitude to the Cabildo, to the artist Ildefonso Aguilar, author of the photograph that illustrates the poster and the informative material of these conferences; to each of the participants of these conferences in its different aspects, such as Fernando Prats, Fernando Gómez Aguilera and the César Manrique Foundation, the José Saramago Foundation, Antonio González Viéitez; and to the Sociedad La Democracia, which has made available to us such a generous space."
Hernández stressed "the participation and sense of belonging of Mararía with everything that the Biosphere Reserve means and defends, with what it has been doing these 20 years and with what it is going to do." The president of Mararía also highlighted the importance of "those of us who live here, from Lanzarote or not, have an extraordinary and special responsibility with the conservation of this space so admired by people from all over the world, many of whom do not even know or have set foot on this island."
Finally, Hernández emphasized "the need to individualize this commitment to sustainability with the environment and with the island. We have to take it to a personal, domestic level. Both in the responsible consumption of resources such as energy and water, and in the separation of the waste we dispose of."
Ildefonso Aguilar, for his part, assured that "I have contributed to this initiative what is in my hand, as is now this photograph -or it has been a painting on other occasions-, in addition to all my personal support to this as to other initiatives of Mararía".
"It is" -Aguilar points out- "an image of La Graciosa, which sometimes and not every year presents a unique appearance with the ground covered in the red of the glasswort. It is an illustrative photograph of how I understand the natural wealth of the landscape of Lanzarote and, in this case, also of La Graciosa. My way of claiming and contributing to its conservation."
