My mother, like other women of her age, for some time, perhaps because she lives on an island and because she knew the misery suffered in Lanzarote in the 1940s, has been somewhat concerned about two questions.
And, if one day tourism stopped coming, what would become of the island?
Faced with this question: sometimes we have reacted by denying this eventuality in order not to imagine the dire consequences that a Canary Islands without tourists could bring; and other times, we have chosen to ignore it because we were naively convinced that it would never happen. The reality is that this situation has arisen, but not in the style that Hollywood has accustomed us to with the projection in its films of images of natural catastrophes (earthquakes, storms or any other cataclysm); but simply the planes do not land because the airport has been closed to national and international flights due to the presence of a virus.
Now, without having overcome the effects that this virus is causing on the health of the population and without being able to foresee the economic and social consequences that it will leave, we can only trust and wait. Trust in a quick solution to the disease through a novel treatment or an effective vaccine; and wait for the planes to return again and as soon as possible, because we need tourism, although perhaps for the good of all it is the opportune moment to define what tourism we want for the island.
In the search for this objective, the truth is that every time the approval of an urban planning instrument has been projected, the usual debate arises, never conveniently resolved, on questions that many have asked themselves on some occasion:
Can we continue to grow in tourist beds?; where is the limit of the load capacity?; or have we already exceeded the population ceiling?; and, if so: how should we act in the future?.
In this dynamic, another question takes on special importance: do we have room to increase, if possible, the load capacity without undermining public services that are already deficient and lacking?, as is the case in education, where we have been contemplating crude barracks scattered throughout the island's geography converted into school classrooms year after year; or as happens in the Canarian Health Service with saturated waiting lists in many of its specialties.
It should be recognized that the desirable and reasonable thing would be to paralyze this growth on the fly until the current public services are improved with the construction of the teaching centers demanded by the school community, increased with more personnel and provided with new technical equipment to the health facilities, especially when today we are facing a pandemic that has saturated the hospital system in many places in the country.
So, which way to choose: do we continue to grow, or do we stop? Obviously, the most sensible thing would be to stop this excessive growth, but unfortunately we know that some of our politicians govern in the realm of foolishness.
My mother's other question: And if the boats take a long time to arrive, what will become of us?.
My mother does not talk about food sovereignty or what the ideal percentage of self-sufficiency for the island should be (some set it at forty percent for the island territories). She only points out, every time she goes up the road from Arrecife to San Bartolomé, how all the cultivated lands that she saw planted in her childhood have been abandoned. Which, in her opinion, will bring a dangerous and increasing dependence on the outside, having to import almost all food.
We must not, nor can we ignore that the abandonment of land is causing our degree of food security (capacity to produce the food required by the population) to be increasingly lower. This path that has been entered is not safe at all due to the submission to external factors that escape our decision-making capacity.
In August of last year, the Government of the Canary Islands declared a climate emergency situation for the archipelago that, among its priorities, established: to increase our degree of food sovereignty (the power of each people to define their own agricultural and food policies), and to promote ecological agriculture and livestock farming. We are waiting for the specific measures that should materialize in the future Canary Islands Law on Climate Change currently in the drafting phase.
Once the difficult days that we are experiencing have passed, it will be time to pay attention to the primary sector, which has not been given due importance on the Island in recent years, despite the fact that it has been considered essential in the declaration of the state of alarm decreed by the Government of the Nation.
In this new scenario, it is not intended to maintain, as some claim, that the Lanzarote countryside will have the capacity to provide food to the entire population; but what is sought is to increase the island's food security to the extent that soil and water resources allow. All this in accordance with the sustainable development objectives contained in the United Nations 2030 agenda.
This is only achieved with decisive policies that support farmers and ranchers, address their demands, facilitate the development of their agricultural-livestock farms, and in turn promote among the population the consumption of local products.
Congratulations to all mothers!
Signed by S.A.T. EL JABLE: We cultivate the landscape of Lanzarote, a possible island.
