Along with the Fire Mountains, La Geria makes up the most magical and distinctive landscape of Lanzarote. A sea of zocos, hollows protected by stone walls, that defy the arid climate and wind and create an unparalleled environment in any other corner of the planet. This traditional system has not only allowed the production of quality wine. It has shaped a hallmark, a perfect balance between agriculture, landscape and tourism, which for decades has been an example of sustainability.
But that special and fragile environment is threatened today. The danger of those who push for a cultivation model based on speed, mechanization and immediate economic performance is increasingly emerging.
Plantations in line or in trenches break with the zocos system that has made La Geria a symbol of adaptation and beauty. If the door is opened to this type of cultivation, if it is normalized that the landscape yields to productivity, there is a risk of transforming La Geria into just another land, of erasing what makes it unique.
We cannot allow individual decisions, driven by immediate profit, to compromise a collective legacy.
La Geria cannot and should not compete for volume or ease of exploitation. Its value lies in its uniqueness. Its profitability, in its authenticity.
The institutions must protect La Geria at all costs and stimulate the maintenance of the traditional cultivation system and the population must be more than alert to the penultimate attack on the authenticity of the island.
(Article published in www.lanzarotefuturo.com)