The Ben Magec-Ecologistas en Acción Federation, which brings together the main environmental associations in the Canary Islands, including El Guincho (Lanzarote) and Agonane (Fuerteventura), calls for positions from the Canary Islands institutions against marine mining in waters near the Islands following the oil exploration announced by Morocco off the coast of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.
"Mining companies and multinational speculative funds have been carving up mining licenses on the African coast like vultures. Often turning their backs on the needs of local populations. They are repeating the colonial policies of the 19th century, but now at sea. They extract profits and condemn local societies to pollution, labor degradation, and poverty," they state from Ben Magec-Ecologistas en Acción, from where they recall that Canarian society and institutions reacted "forcefully against this dynamic at the time with opposition to Repsol's oil exploration," but consider that "it is not enough."
"A few months ago, it was an international project seeking minerals like tellurium or rare earths near the Canary Islands, without informing Canarian society. Recently, diving clubs warned us about underwater explosions. Now it's authorizations on the nearby African coast," points out the environmental federation, from where they state that, meanwhile, "the European Commission and the Government of Spain continue to slow down and reduce the declaration of a protected marine area, through the SCI or any other international scope for this zone."
Decision-making capacity of Canarian society
Therefore, Ben Magec-Ecologistas en Acción requests all Canary Islands institutions and political parties to adopt plenary agreements "urgently" against marine mining in waters near the Canary Islands, centered around a series of objectives. The first of these, according to the environmentalist federation, is that "Canary Islands society and its institutions need direct information and decision-making power regarding any request or management related to mining or potentially polluting activities in the waters of the Islands." "It is a priority to promote initiatives in the Congress of Deputies and the Senate so that the Government of Spain formally assumes this commitment," they add.
Likewise, they consider that "the Government of Spain and the European Commission must address the demands of the international scientific community to highlight the unique environmental characteristics of the channel between the Canary Islands and Africa, and promote international cooperation agreements to ensure the environmental protection of the area against possible mining threats" and that "political parties must take initiatives in this regard to Congress and the Senate".
Finally, Ben Magec-Ecologistas en Acción believes "it is necessary for the Spanish Government and the European Commission to reach agreements with neighboring countries for the development of sustainable and renewable energy projects in the area, in which social interest takes precedence over the balance sheets of multinational corporations and speculative funds."
