WWF has sent a letter to the president of the Cabildo and head of the Territorial Planning and Territorial Policy area, María Dolores Corujo, expressing its concern about the situation of the Chinijo Archipelago and urging the institution to resolve the "deficiencies" in the management of this space. In the letter, the organization requests "urgently the drafting and approval of the planning and management instruments of the Chinijo Archipelago Natural Park, as well as the creation of its own specific management body".
Regarding the Natural Resources Management Plan (PORN), it celebrates that the Canarian Government has announced this week that there will be a new period of public information, after the allegations received by the draft, although it insists that the procedures should be expedited. As for the Master Plan for Use and Management, a new one is still pending, after the Justice annulled the previous one, precisely because it lacked a previous PORN.
"WWF regrets that a space as valuable as the Natural Park still lacks the planning, management and participation instruments essential to guarantee effective management," denounces the association, which calls for the "urgent" approval of both documents. In addition, it has asked the president of the Cabildo "the immediate convocation of a meeting of the Insular Board of Protected Natural Spaces of Lanzarote and another of the Timanfaya Natural Park, which are the only participatory management bodies currently existing in Lanzarote and have not met for years".
In this letter, the organization also expressed its "concern about the lack of a specific body that integrates the different public administrations involved in management" and requested the participation of the different social actors and the representatives of the affected population centers.
WWF recalls that it has been working in this enclave since 1998 and that, through the 'Chinijo Campaign', it has launched numerous activities to restore the coastline, assess the state of conservation of natural resources, raise awareness, provide information and support surveillance, mainly focused on the islet of Alegranza, La Graciosa and Risco de Famara.
"It is urgent to create working groups, with the representation of all the social agents involved, so that they get involved in the development of the PRUG and that serve as the basis for the future management body," says the coordinator of the WWF campaign in Chinijo, Alexis Rivera.
The association emphasizes that this Natura Park, which received that recognition in 1986, is "one of the spaces of greatest natural interest in the Canary Islands, due to its enormous biological and geological richness and diversity." "It is the maritime-terrestrial natural space that has the largest number of protection figures in the Canary region, and that all this valuable natural heritage is at risk if management is not improved, for which the urgent approval of the PORN and the PRUG is required," WWF insists.
