The Governing Board of the Biosphere Reserve Council debated this Friday, July 8, on the future of mobility on the island, in an ordinary session of this advisory body of the Cabildo of Lanzarote that was held in the José Saramago Hall of the César Manrique Foundation (FCM) located in La Plazuela de Arrecife.
"We are at a turning point with respect to the island model in which we want to live. This means that the decisions that are made will shape the model that we will enjoy or suffer in the coming decades," said the Councilor of the Biosphere Reserve of Lanzarote, Elena Solís, who presided over the session.
In her speech, Solís highlighted the fragility of the territory of Lanzarote and recalled that 24 years ago, within the Council, the Lanzarote Strategy in the Biosphere was approved, which, in terms of transport, included the need to moderate consumption, motor vehicle traffic and the local impacts of transport.
"It is the only way we are going to be able to live on this island and in the world we are in," added the councilor, also pointing out that "global scenarios regarding the availability of energy and materials are worrying."
"Even if we want to continue consuming energy, materials are finite, and the International Energy Agency already predicts that in 2050 we will not have enough materials to maintain the technology of renewables and that of individual motorized mobility," she said. Therefore, she raised the need to reduce the individualized mobile fleet, pointing out that, in contrast, electrified public transport may be the answer.
"It is our obligation to future generations to maintain tolerable degrees of sustainability on our island," said Solís.
Transportation and infrastructure
In this regard, the Councilor for Transportation of the island corporation, Marcos Bergaz, detailed the Cabildo of Lanzarote's commitment to mobility and to improving public transportation "so that it reaches many more people," as well as "to more efficient formulas such as hybrid vehicles or the electrification" of them.
Regarding intercity passenger transport, Bergaz indicated that the Cabildo of Lanzarote is working on a "very ambitious" tender both for its amount and for the improvements that will be contemplated, with which it is intended to increase the number of passengers from four to seven million "in the near future," as well as the number of annual kilometers traveled by the buses.
"We believe that these are very ambitious objectives, but in line with an island that is a Biosphere Reserve," said the Councilor for Transportation.
Similarly, Marcos Bergaz highlighted the commitment of the first island corporation to promote the use of bicycles through different actions such as the development of the bike lane that connects Puerto del Carmen with Costa Teguise, among others.
The roads and the access to and from the island through the airport were other issues related to mobility that were discussed in the Biosphere Reserve Council, for which the Director General of Road Infrastructure of the Government of the Canary Islands, José Luis Delgado, and the Director of the Lanzarote Airport, María Teresa Cuenca, were present.
Also, Julieta Cristina Schallenberg, an expert in alternative energies and a doctor in Industrial Engineering from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, who has been studying the issue of transportation in the Canary Islands for some time, also participated as a guest in the session.
The different members of the Governing Board of the Biosphere Reserve Council also expressed their views on mobility, in a session that can be seen through the Youtube channel of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, at the link https://youtu.be/DsAJwewfTls.
