NC demands a comprehensive plan to protect the taros, mills, lime kilns, and the historic complex of Teguise

The Local Committee of Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-BC) of Teguise has denounced the "progressive abandonment" suffered by some of the main elements of the historical and ethnographic heritage of the municipality, and has demanded that the Teguise City Council and the Island Council "leave behind the policy of announcements and act with a comprehensive, coordinated, and financially endowed plan to guarantee their conservation".

The Canarian organization recalls that the taros, the windmills, the lime kilns, and the historical complex of La Villa de Teguise "constitute a legacy that explains how generations of Lanzaroteans were able to inhabit an island marked by scarcity of resources, wind, and collective effort. Their conservation is not only a cultural duty, but also a commitment to the identity and memory of the people of Lanzarote".

“A people that abandons its heritage ends up losing part of its identity. We cannot allow those who govern to turn our history into a photograph for tourist brochures while letting deterioration advance year after year,” states the local secretary of NC-BC in Teguise, Belén Machín.

From NC-BC they point out that the taros represent traditional dry stone architecture and the adaptation of the Lanzarotean countryside to a hostile territory; the windmills keep alive the memory of gofio production and the cereal economy; and the lime kilns reflect an activity that for centuries generated employment and allowed the construction of homes, the protection of cisterns, and the improvement of the population's living conditions.

To this ethnographic heritage is added the extraordinary value of the Historical Complex of La Villa de Teguise, declared an Asset of Cultural Interest in 1985. However, the organization considers that this legal protection "is insufficient if it is not accompanied by investments, permanent maintenance, and a public conservation strategy".

NC-BC denounces the absence of preventive planning, permanent maintenance programs, and systematic monitoring of the state of the heritage. In the opinion of the party, the City Council and the Island Council "only react when the deterioration is already evident or when social pressure forces intervention, without a stable policy that allows us to know the real state of the protected assets, the priorities for action, or the economic resources allocated to their recovery".

The organization also recalls that the Cultural Heritage Law of the Canary Islands clearly establishes the responsibilities of both administrations. The City Council must keep the municipal catalog updated, develop protection instruments, and act against any risk of deterioration, while the Cabildo has the obligation to define and execute the island's conservation policy, coordinate actions, and inspect compliance with regulations. For this reason, NC-BC proposes the **joint development of an Integral Plan for the Protection and Recovery of the Historical and Ethnographic Heritage of Teguise**, with multi-year funding, a public calendar, and citizen participation. NC-BC also proposes **linking heritage recovery to training and employment programs for young people** in traditional trades such as dry stone construction, carpentry, restoration, or working with lime, turning heritage conservation into an opportunity to generate qualified employment, preserve knowledge, and move towards an economic model more rooted in the territory. “Recovering our heritage is also recovering Lanzarote. It means respecting the work of those who built this island, strengthening our collective identity, and demonstrating that another way of managing is possible, putting culture, territory, and the general interest ahead of propaganda and improvisation,” concludes Machín.