In these days of water shortage due to the breakage of the pipe that supplies the eighth island, there have been many statements from public officials, politicians, the awarding company and citizens. None, that I have read and heard, have focused on one fact: La Graciosa has about 700 residents and an average of 1,000 visitors a day. More than 500,000 a year.
And it is not logical that we focus the problem solely on the breakdown and ignore the tourist flow that La Graciosa supports every day. The breakdown is clearly due to obsolete infrastructures that urgently need to be renovated; but as in all cases, nothing is the consequence of a single factor. If there wasn't the high demand, would the pipe be working or not?
My feeling regarding La Graciosa is explained with two metaphors. The island is like a "tuna boat" without a course or captain, where the neighbors are sailors who only worry about continuing to "hook" tuna with the boat hook to fill the boat's refrigerators as if a bad prelude were to happen and they were going to run out of tuna. On the other hand, the image so well known to all of the "goose that lays the golden eggs" comes to mind, where the island is the goose that lays golden eggs non-stop, that is, the more tourists arrive, the better, without worrying about the health of the animal.
I propose the following questions: Where is La Graciosa going? What is its future? Will the moment come when the island loses its charm and differentiation due to mimicking so much with massified tourist centers? How many supply deficiencies are its population willing to endure? What will become of the island's elders in a few years? Who will take care of them? How many more cars will the island support on its fragile roads? What island of La Graciosa are we going to leave to our sons and daughters? Will the "tuna boat" ever crash against a rock? Will the "hen" stop laying golden eggs?
All these questions do not obviate the obvious. The public services of La Graciosa are obsolete and require a radical transformation that adapts to the new needs and habits of the population. But it is no less true that even improving them, the underlying problem will continue, the massive and, on many occasions, uncontrolled use of resources by the floating population. Putting a larger pipe, even 2 or 3, will be a short-medium term patch if we do not plan an island for 3 or 4 decades. And that, like it or not, requires courage and knowing when to stop.
In my idyllic Eco-island thought for La Graciosa, I imagine the political leaders of the City Council, Cabildo, Canarian and Spanish Government, capable of agreeing to generate sustainable policies, 100% renewable and energy independent, where the island has a desalination plant that generates drinking water through solar energy. I imagine, thus, a self-sufficient island that offers security guarantees and where the elderly are cared for with quality and are not alone. Where the children have spaces to practice sports and celebrate a play. I still imagine an island where there are not so many cars and traffic is regulated. Where, to visit the island as a tourist, you have to register in advance since there is an entry control.
In short, La Graciosa should advance in a sustainable tourism and ecological transformation plan. I firmly believe in an Eco-island model that is at the forefront in the Canary Islands and spearheads the transformation that this country needs. This entails, yes or yes, addressing the demographic challenge, the carrying capacity and the current economic model.
I am aware that initiating a debate of these characteristics is uncomfortable and causes discomfort in business sectors, workers, residents, media and political parties. But, sincerely, I believe that the time has come to address it before the deterioration is irreversible.
It is not about limiting economic activity, but about making it sustainable over time and complementary to the well-being of the people of Graciosa, what many fill their mouths with, but few do, "more quality tourism and less quantity". And it is not about "tourismophobia", since there are other islands and tourist areas in the world of similar size and productive fabric as La Graciosa that have designed strategies for tourism control and sustainability without causing damage to the local economy. Protect our territory to preserve the well-being of the Canarians without renouncing the main economic activity. Or what is the same, that the economic activity adapts to the demands of protection of the territory. Raise the standard of the destination and our ecological awareness as residents who are directly affected.
But everything I point out can only come from a participation process where all the actors involved agree together with the entrepreneurial action of the Public Administrations. And it is that the latter cannot be mere spectators, limiting themselves to doing minor maintenance works while reality overwhelms them. What the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed is that public and collective action must have the leadership and be at the forefront of initiatives, challenges and demands. In some way, they must put the contours and limits to the market; provide certainties to the citizen; and plan in the medium and long term. An entrepreneurial City Council, Cabildo and Government are brave and do not let the rules of the game be dictated and imposed on them.
With everything, it is necessary to plan in a sustainable way, prioritizing the well-being of those who live here and, most importantly, to leave a decent future for future generations. And, be careful, this is not only for La Graciosa, but the debate should also be extrapolated to Lanzarote and the rest of the Archipelago. I will be exposing in a series of articles entitled "Knowing when to stop" some issues that New Canary Islands within its idea of Island-Home worry us.
As our iconic César Manrique said in his Manifesto "Time to stop":
"Everything can be corrected. It depends on the enthusiasm, on having a truth in your hands and a brave and honest decision. The only drawback, and everyone knows that, is a matter of buying and selling. Would we have hope? Can we save what we have left? Is it a matter of intelligent vision? I think the case cannot be more evident, blatant and elementary to realize that the time has come to STOP".