The Plenary Session of the Cabildo of Lanzarote has unanimously approved this Monday declaring the waves of Lanzarote as natural heritage and of sporting interest. With this institutional decision, "it is intended to value and protect the natural sports facilities where surfing, windsurfing and similar disciplines are practiced," they say from the Cabildo. This recognition is "a project drafted by the Eastern Coastal Planning Service of the Government of the Canary Islands for its processing by the Cabildo of Lanzarote," they add.
“Perhaps due to their proximity or their constant spatial situation, in our lives as islanders we may have underestimated the waves of our island and its breakers, understanding that they have always been there and that their existence will never be in danger. However, the waves represent a fundamental element of our landscape and we must achieve their preservation so that future generations can enjoy what has been inherited,” says the president of the corporation, María Dolores Corujo.
In addition, Corujo highlights that “the sporting component to which this natural element owes so much cannot be ignored” and that “it is absolutely compatible with this recognition as long as it entails adequate management by the administrations.”
For the Councilor for Heritage, Ariagona González, “protecting our natural environment, in this case the waves, has become a matter of the highest importance”; a heritage “that will not be there forever unless we act with sensitivity and prudence.”
“No one can deny the progressive degradation of our seas, coasts and oceans. Pollution, coastal development and massive urbanization in the form of dredging, ports, breakwaters and constructions on the marine edges threaten the cultural identity of coastal communities that integrate their waves and breakers, and Lanzarote is no stranger to this scenario,” says González.
The government group of the Cabildo has prepared "a catalog of waves that will be sent to the Government of the Canary Islands, together with the declaration approved in the Plenary Session, in order to request the inclusion and updating of the census of sports facilities of the Higher Sports Council," they point out.
Similarly, it has declared the "need for the studies of coastal dynamics that are carried out in the area of influence of the breakers due to any action, to pay special attention to the possible impacts on this natural element".
The declaration was approved this Monday has "an important technical support and is the result of different collaborative work commissions with the sailing and surfing federations, and with associations and entities involved with the practices of these disciplines," they conclude from the Cabildo.
