A hundred people gathered this Thursday in the San Borondón room of the Center for Popular Canarian Culture to address the collapse of the tourism model and the destruction of the territory. The talk-colloquium, titled “Let's get out of the collapse! For a sustainable tourism model for the Canary Islands,” was endorsed by six left-wing organizations (Sí Se Puede, Nueva Canarias–Bloque Canarista, Izquierda Unida Canaria, Podemos Canarias, Movimiento Sumar Canarias and Lanzarote en Pie) and marks the beginning of a joint work process open to more social and political actors.
The meeting focused on one of the main problems affecting the Islands: accelerated touristification and its consequences on housing, mobility, and the landscape. The invited experts —the journalist David González, the geographer Alejandro Armas Díaz and the architect María Tomé Nuez, with the moderation of Nerea López Cabral— dismantled the idea that only 2% of the land is dedicated to tourism, contextualizing the real impact of the model on infrastructure, resource consumption, and pressure on the territory. Canarias presents negative vegetative growth, but experiences a population increase linked to unequal economic dynamics and speculative housing purchases, which exacerbates access to the right to housing.
During the colloquium, concrete proposals were put forward to reverse this situation: a tourism and residential moratorium, the limitation of speculative capital in land purchases —focusing the debate on uses and not on the origin of people—, the exercise of the right of first refusal and redemption by public administrations and the mandatory transfer of up to 30% of new developments to protected housing or affordable rent, following experiences already applied in other European cities. It was also advocated to measure carrying capacity based on quality of life, create a Coastal Conservatory and a Landscape Observatory, and promote energy communities and forms of community ownership that favor the social reappropriation of the territory.
Ecofeminism, feminist urbanism, and degrowth in the face of the so-called “sustainable development” crossed the debate. The right to the island and to good living was claimed, food sovereignty and the protection of agricultural land as guarantees for the future. The interventions insisted that the current course is not inevitable. It's not “what there is”, it can be otherwise if life, care, and social justice are prioritized. The need to recover the class question and strengthen the social movement was another of the highlighted consensuses.
On behalf of the convening organizations, it was emphasized that this first event “is not a point of arrival, but the beginning of a process of collective construction”. “We want to articulate spaces for attentive listening to gather social discontent, but also the proposals of the citizenry. The union of left-wing forces in the face of tourist collapse is key to guaranteeing the right to live with dignity in our land”, it was stated during the meeting.
The signatory entities stressed that the space remains open and in consolidation. The priority is the process: how to articulate joint action, how to integrate youth and social groups, and how to turn the debate into viable proposals. In the coming months, new thematic events will be held to delve into the demographic challenge, housing, the political model of Canarias, identity, and the necessary legal tools to guarantee the right to territory and a dignified life.
With this first step, the convening organizations begin a shared agenda that aims to transform the growing discontent into a solid alternative for Canarias.