Where are we going? It is one of the questions that has been on my mind the most in recent weeks. After the celebration of the municipal elections and the formation of the local governments of the island, one of the issues that arouse the most interest, as well as concern, is related to what policies will be the protagonists during the next term.
Necessary actions in search of effective and immediate solutions to structural problems on the island, whose political class has not been able to solve. Decisions that, without a doubt, must go through degrowth, given our load capacity.
I still remember the discomfort generated inside and outside the island, as a result of the statements by the former president of the Cabildo, María Dolores Corujo. Her intention to declare the island as a "touristically saturated zone" caused a great national and international stir. It was not for less. Her statements were nothing more than a declaration of intentions, close to municipal and regional elections.
But it seems that the terms "saturation" and "degrowth" are two taboos on the island. Degrowth is considered to allude to an unfavorable evolution of the economy, thus generating fear. Quite the opposite. The ideology of degrowth defends a logical change of trajectory, in search of an intelligent transformation of our production and consumption model, which adapts to the carrying capacity of the territory.
An ideology that should become more important on the island. The data is worrying. This is demonstrated by the "study on the tourist carrying capacity in Lanzarote" recently commissioned by the Island Council of the island to Gaia Consultores. According to the study, Lanzarote had already declared its tourist carrying capacity exhausted in 2003. 20 years ago, the island had already reached the maximum number of visitors that the island could absorb without causing a deterioration of resources.
To understand what the real impact that the population has on the territory is, we must first know how much population is putting pressure on the limits of the island. In 21 years, Lanzarote has grown demographically by 39.4%, reaching 156,112 inhabitants and the population density has increased by 51.6% compared to 2001. In addition to the resident population, we must add the nearly three million annual tourists we receive on the island.
The study is blunt: all the indicators "associated with the main factors of carrying capacity" reflect that Lanzarote meets the characteristics of a mature destination. Given its measurements, the island has already reached "a very high level of saturation", even overflowing its own economic and human capacities for the proper management of the situation. Housing, transportation, energy and water consumption or waste management are the next challenges that Lanzarote must face urgently.
Regarding land occupation, the data is still alarming. 42% of the artificialized surface is within the first kilometer of the coast. In addition, 13% of the coastal perimeter is occupied by buildings. It must be borne in mind that there is still a significant area of developable land in the island planning (1.8% according to the study).
Despite this, the culture of tourist development based on increasing the number of tourists has not yet been abandoned. Faced with this, I wonder what the next policies established by the government group will be. Again, we find a declaration of intentions, announcing a sustainable tourism model, while celebrating an increase in flights and air seats for next year. Tourism is a generator of wealth and employment, some say.
If the statement were true, it is not understood that with a total of 3 million tourists, 67.5% of Lanzarote residents declare having difficulties to make ends meet, according to the latest data published by the Lanzarote Data Center. At the same time, it is not understood that the number of people living below the poverty line has doubled, going from 9.4% in 2001 to 18.4% in 2018. A fact that contrasts with the fact that Lanzarote is the island that has the highest GDP per capita in the Canary Islands.
The data reflects the urgent need to take strategies that guarantee the continuity of the island as a consolidated tourist destination. But for this, we must reconcile our economic development with the proper maintenance of our resources. Strategies that must go through degrowth, through returning to the environmental awareness and legacy left by the artist César Manrique.