The environmental associations WWF Spain and SEO/BirdLife, together with the César Manrique Foundation and researchers from the Doñana Biological Station, have asked to avoid the tourist use of the Alegranza Lighthouse. The alert was raised after learning that rehabilitation works will be carried out imminently on this lighthouse, located within the Chinijo Archipelago Natural Park. These groups fear that this place will eventually become a tourist center, "with the consequent threat to the natural space and its biodiversity."
In order to prevent the rehabilitation of the lighthouse from being the "prelude to the destruction of the island of Alegranza", these groups have requested by letter to the Council of the Port Authority to guarantee in these facilities "the public use destined to the conservation of the natural values of the space", as stated in the Governing Plan for Use and Management (PRUG) of the Chinijo Archipelago Natural Park, and that "in no case is it dedicated to tourist use".
These groups have insisted that the PRUG "controls and restricts public use" and includes the need for the Alegranza Lighthouse facilities to house a biological station that supports the conservation actions of the space. Thus, they have recalled that the Chinijo Archipelago, formed by the island of La Graciosa, the islets of Alegranza and Montaña Clara, the Roques del Este and del Oeste, and the Risco de Famara to the north of Lanzarote, is the most important maritime-terrestrial protected natural space in the Canary Islands.
"Its waters harbor the greatest marine biodiversity. Its vegetation is among the first in Europe in terms of the presence of endemic species. In addition, it is the refuge of the most important populations of seabirds, the greatest diversity of birds of prey and the largest number of threatened bird species in the Canary Islands," they have defended.
"Indiscriminate" increase in visitors
At the same time, it should be noted that this Islet is included in the Natura 2000 Network as SPA ES0000040 "Islets of northern Lanzarote and Famara" and as a Site of Community Importance. It has also been declared an area of Ecological Sensitivity and is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1993.
Finally, these environmental associations, members of the FCM and researchers have warned that "an indiscriminate increase in visitors and the realization of tourist activities in places as important and sensitive as this, can seriously compromise the viability and conservation of this space in the medium and long term."
