Alternativa Ciudadana demands Cabildo help for the rural environment and less propaganda with public money

They request that sand be extracted and distributed to those affected using the public resources of Roads and Works and the Cabildo's Agricultural Farm, and that a mobile office be created for each and every town and neighborhood on the Island

Alternativa Ciudadna 25 de Mayo (AC-25M) has been proposing to the government group since last week that the Cabildo's resources be put at the service of the urgent needs of the rural environment, after the passage of tropical storm Delta through Lanzarote.

At the same time, Councilor Pedro Hernández already demanded in the last plenary session of the Corporation that the island's farmers should have sand as soon as possible, and that it be extracted from wherever it comes from.

The effects of the tropical storm have exposed the great deficiencies suffered by the electricity and communication networks, according to Alternativa, due to aging and lack of investment, "where only Endesa or Telefónica have dedicated themselves to collecting substantial economic benefits, completely forgetting about the improvement and updating of the same."

In a statement, AC25M in the Cabildo points out that the effects on urban furniture, visible in all the neighborhoods and towns of the Island, are in any case replaceable, but "on the other hand, those that have less striking effects but are more serious, are those associated with the agricultural and livestock world."

Livestock facilities suffered collapses and in many cases the loss of animals. The singularity of the rural world in Lanzarote, with a sanding system unique in the world, a work done with great effort by our grandparents and over a long period of time, causes, according to the Councilor of Alternativa, "the loss of the layer of rofe that covers and protects the topsoil, to avoid, among others, runoff in case of rain, causes an ecological disaster that is very difficult to recover, both labor and economic."

For Pedro Hernández, the loss of production is not as important right now as the danger that, when the sand blows away, it will be unprotected and that, in case of rain, the water "will carry away the topsoil, losing the traditional way of cultivating the fields of Lanzarote and all the heritage of work and effort made."

The members of AC25M ask the public to become aware of the "terrible and dramatic" moment that our fields and our farmers are suffering.

Faced with that, they highlight the "contempt" of the Cabildo's government group, with its "continuous media spree through propaganda actions."

Urgent measures

Alternativa Ciudadana demands that, as a matter of urgency, a mobile office be created for each and every town and neighborhood on the Island; that sand be made available to those affected; that it be extracted from the usual extraction sites on the Island; that the Cabildo's trucks and mechanical shovels be used to distribute the sand where it is needed; that the public workers of Roads and Works and the Cabildo's Agricultural Farm, in the form of a brigade, dedicate themselves to covering those areas most seriously affected and exposed to runoff; and that the "propaganda actions of the government group and the collection of papers from the side of the roads" be stopped immediately.

Alternativa Ciudadana, which proposes that resources be put at the service of urgent actions, calls on citizens to form groups of volunteers to collaborate in the recovery of the island's rural environment.

In this regard, this last weekend the AC25M Volunteer Group recovered part of a farm destroyed by the tropical storm.

The volunteers are at the service of those owners who have sand and are in need.