The Auditorium of Jameos del Agua hosted this Friday, April 1, a joint session of the Council of the Biosphere Reserve and its Scientific Cabinet, in which the latter presented the book "Lanzarote in MaB perspective (1971-2021)". A publication that addresses the last 50 years of island development from the perspective of the Unesco program 'Man and the Biosphere'.
"This island is indebted to you," said the president of the Cabildo and the Council of the Biosphere Reserve of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo, who thanked the members of the Scientific Cabinet for "once again generously giving their wisdom to help us reinterpret the past and reposition ourselves in the present to guide the future of the island with a good course."
In this sense, Corujo emphasized the challenges that the island has ahead and vindicated the legacy of César Manrique and the importance of the Island Plan of 1991, still in force, "which put tourism development at the service of the general interest and not the interests of a few." "Now, we will go for a renewed Island Plan, but based on that model," said the president.
In addition, María Dolores Corujo pointed out the challenge posed by global warming and climate change, and that "inevitably leads to addressing the diversification of our economy, the deepening of energy sovereignty with renewable sources, the advancement of food self-sufficiency and access to more qualified segments of demand to receive fewer annual tourists and, at the same time, generate greater wealth and progress on the island."
"In short, we must update our own collective awareness of the culture of limits and the new Action Plan of the Biosphere Reserve must revolve around these premises," he added.
Likewise, the president took advantage of the session of the Council of the Biosphere Reserve to ask the entire island society to support and endorse the attempt for Lanzarote to achieve the declaration as a World Heritage Site by Unesco.
Climate migrations
"We all want this island to be better and not only to be better from the point of view of the conservation of our territory and biodiversity, but also from the care we have to give to the people who inhabit this island," said Elena Solís, Councilor of the Biosphere Reserve who, as such, has assumed the Vice Presidency of the advisory body of the same.
To this end and to understand the diversity of the people who reside in Lanzarote, the session on Friday addressed the issue of climate migrations and for this purpose the expert Miguel Pajares, president of the Catalan Commission for Aid to Refugees, was invited to the meeting. Likewise, representatives of the Association La Vida es Zuaina and the NGO Médicos del Mundo were given a voice.
"Migration is economic, but it is economic in many cases because it is climatic. It is the global south that suffers the consequences of our actions and, as such, we have a debt," said Solís, who also stated that "it makes no sense to talk about nature if we do not talk about man" and that we must take into account that in Lanzarote reside people of more than 100 nationalities.
As vice president of the Council of the Biosphere Reserve, Elena Solís has assumed the coordination of the day-to-day of this advisory body and will be responsible for preparing a calendar of sessions, together with the Governing Board, with the aim of meeting monthly.
