Tag: climate change
Latest Gran Canaria News, Views & Sunshine
UD Las Palmas Celebrate Return to La Liga First Division in Grand Style after Gran Canaria Stadium Goalless Draw with Alavés
May, 2023 |
UD Las Palmas made a glorious comeback to the First Division in a thrilling encounter against Deportivo Alavés that kept fans on the edge of their seats until the final whistle. In front of a raucous near-capacity-crowd of 31,790, Las Palmas sealed their return ticket to the top flight with a hard-fought goalless draw in the season’s photo finish.
The Canary Guide Día de Canarias #WeekendTips 26-28 May 2023
May, 2023 |
What an interesting last weekend of May ahead. Weather predictions are showing some rain showers are likely across Gran Canaria. This extended #WeekendTips covers up to Tuesday, when all things Canarian are celebrated on the Día de Canarias. There’ll be some gorgeous Patron Saints’ festivities happening in San Fernando de Maspalomas as well as in Valleseco.
Fun Fact:
Valleseco literally means “dry valley” in Spanish, but is actually one of the wettest municipalities Gran Canaria. Nestling between the famous fresh water sources of Firgas & Teror, half way up the island’s mountainous northern slopes, this area is well known for its apple growers, cider and its weekly market
Six weeks since the unexplained disappearance of Anna-Karin on Gran Canaria
May, 2023 |
The authorities on Gran Canaria have been engaged in a rigorous search for Swedish tourist Anna-Karin Bengtsson, who went missing in the south of Gran Canaria around April 9. Her unexplained disappearance has caused her family much distress, with no clues to her whereabouts having emerged in the six weeks since they first realised her phone was no longer functioning.
The Canary Guide #WeekendTips 19-21 May 2023
May, 2023 |
An exciting May weekend ahead with abundant events and festivities taking place all around Gran Canaria. There are Patron Saints’ festivities for Motor Grande, in Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria, and in El Tablero in the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana and up in the mountains of Artenara. There is also a two day lively exhibition event in Meloneras boulevard and the Rally Gran Canaria is held this Friday and Saturday.
Dead man, of German origin, found floating in the sea near Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria
May, 2023 |
The body of a 58-year-old German man was found this Friday floating just off the coast of Mogán, on the south-west of Gran Canaria.

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Gran Canaria Cabildo to plant 8000 trees across several zones, recovering forest, and creating green fire-resistant areas
Apr, 2021 | Cabildo, Environment, Fire
The Cabildo de Gran Canaria are allocating more than €400,000 to plant 8,000 laurel trees, and thermophilic forest containing species resistant to fire, at the eight of the largest island farmlands on the north of Gran Canaria.
Each year, 2000 specimens are to be planted at these Farms; Osorio located in Teror, La Cazuela in Firgas, El Brezal in Santa Maria de Guía, Los Chorros, Los Tilos and Peñón in the municipality of Moya, and San José del Álamo and Montaña de San Gregorio in the capital, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
These farmlands are within Forest Fire High Risk Areas (Known in Spanish as ZARI – Zonas de Alto Riesgo de Incendios), so the project also includes the clearing of 25 hectares of bush and brambles, each year, to clear away the potential vegetative fuel that accumulates in these areas.
The repopulation will fundamentally extend the laurel populations with fayas, paloblancos, laurels, aceviños and viñátigos, as well as thermophilic (fire-resistant) species including the endemic dragon trees, wild olive trees, junipers and palm trees, in San José del Álamo and Montaña de San Gregorio.
The project will include the technical environmental management to establish the annual schedule of clearing, which will be carried out before summer, which is, the time of greatest risk, and repopulation, which is carried out after the summer period to take advantage of the rains, as well as well as the monitoring of what has been planted, always in coordination with the Cabildo’s Environmental team.
The expense is to be distributed with the first €50,000 for 2021, slightly more than €100,000 for the annual budgets from 2022 to 2024, and another 50,000 for the first half of 2025.
This initiative is a further aspect of the Cabildo’s continued work in favour of biodiversity, that includes action such as the pioneering Life Nieblas Project (testing technology like innovative fog collectors, aiming to mitigate various impacts and effects caused by climate change in areas of southern Europe and outermost regions, through mimicking natural water collection systems), to repopulate more than 30 hectares, that were burned and are now at a high risk of desertification, with 20,000 laurel trees by 2024, in the Barranco de la Virgen and also contribute to the regeneration of aquifers, to recovery of the Doramas Forest, to produce a great green, humid fire-fighting shield for Gran Canaria.
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Maritime Rescue operations have increased this week, with all indicators pointing to greater numbers attempting the crossing by boat in 2021
Mar, 2021 | #TheCanaryMigrantCrisis, Demonstration, Editor's Thoughts, Film, Government, Immigrants, Immigration, Maspalomas, Migrants Gran Canaria, Mogán, News, Police, politics, Transport, Transport
As the springtime arrives and the weather becomes less hostile, so The Canary Islands, and the 100km+ stretch of ocean separating us from the African coast, are likely once again to become the focus of Maritime Rescue operations in an increasing trend toward irregular migration that is good for no-one, not The Canary Islands, not the currently absent tourists, not the residents, not the governments, not the police, not the EU, and least of all, the migrants themselves. After last year’s huge increase in patera arrivals many had hoped we had already lived through the worst of a situation about which we were being forewarned as early as summer 2019.
Search and Rescue flight path on Wednesday
All the current indicators, however, point to a further increase in migrant arrivals this year, and even after Spain’s and Europe’s failure to properly prepare, and their subsequently inadequate response in 2020, many fear the worst is still yet to come. Gran Canaria’s Sasemar 103 Maritime Rescue (Salvamento Maritimo) aircraft have once more located boats adrift this week, the latest carrying about 40 people on board who were about 81.5 nautical miles (149 kilometres) southwest of Maspalomas (Gran Canaria). It follows the rescues of nearly 100 others, including women and children, in the preceding days, many of whom were in need of critical medical attention.
Salvamar de Salvamento Marítimo
Once found, the maritime rescue sent their Guardamar Concepción Arenal vessel to the area where the boat was located – a journey of about three hours to reach the exact point -, which also meant alerting a passing ship, which was in the area, the ‘Alicia’, to request they approach the migrant boat to help keep track of its movement and the people onboard. The prevailing currents in the area travel away from The Canary Islands, had they not been spotted they almost certainly would have perished in the open ocean as many do, without a trace, and without anyone ever knowing what has happened.
The maritime rescue Sasemar 103 has continued to search the stretch of water between Africa and the Canary Islands, Europes most dangerous migratory route, in the hope of locating any more boats that may be adrift, as this one was found only after several warnings about various vessels that have left the coast of Africa in recent days, although currently maritime rescuers do not know how many might still be found. Another one was rescued on Tuesday night not far from Gran Canaria.
Editor’s Thoughts:
While many oppose migration in open boats to The Canary Islands (practically no-one supports it) particularly following a 750% increase in arrivals during 2020, simply put, it is a fact that we are having to deal with. There is literally no way to stop people risking their lives unless we invest longterm in improving their situations in their countries of origin. Failure to do so is to simply accept that people in poverty will always try to find ways out of poverty. We need to help them do that, or they will try to find any way they can with or without us, and that means more arrivals without any control.
Indeed there are those who oppose any type of maritime rescue efforts to prevent loss of life, but really, is there anything anyone can do in the short to medium term to stop would-be migrants from getting into rickety boats, often overloaded and not fit for purpose, in their attempts to escape the effects of climate change, poverty, hardship, oppression and conflict in Africa? Those adrift that we don’t rescue are simply never heard from again. Their failure is simply no deterrent, just letting people die does not stop others from trying, as the information is never heard by others who, rightly or wrongly, think the potential improvement to their lives worth more than wasting away in the place they were born.
All indicators so far this year point to an even greater increase in maritime migration in 2021, with more than double last year’s numbers, the second highest number of arrivals in history, already having been registered during the first two and a half months of this year compared to the same period last year.
Anti-immigration protesters have focused on the temporary use of empty tourist hotels, as accommodation, in recent months, while internment camps were being constructed to try to deal with the large numbers who had already arrived. Almost all migrants that were briefly accommodated in otherwise empty hotels on the south of Gran Canaria have now been moved into camps to await deportation, or those with asylum claims (less than 10%) transferred to the mainland. A further protest against migrant arrivals has been organised for Saturday the 20th March, where organisers will attempt to create a “human chain”, asking participants to all dress in white, in order to try to send some sort of public message about their dissatisfaction concerning people trying to come here in the first place. The actual message behind the demonstration is not really very clear yet, though the event will apparently be filmed from a helicopter and so we are expecting a video production to subsequently make clear the organisers intentions.
While 23,023 individuals were recorded arriving by boat last year, all mostly stuck on the islands due to COVID restrictions closing down international travel, stopping repatriation or deportations, more than 17,000 of those arrived in the last four months of the year. There were many who feared that large numbers of people unable to continue on their journeys towards mainland Europe would result in mass criminality, however crime actually went down last year, with a total of just 122 crimes involving migrants having been recorded in the 80 days prior to January 20th, 65 of those being falsified documents, and another 45 of those related to “security” issues having resulted from altercations among the migrants themselves. While there have been some isolated cases of young migrants allegedly stealing booze from local businesses, and at least one accusation of serious sexual assault, all of which have resulted in immediate arrests and investigations, in general there has been little by way of trouble, with the exception of an occasional social media hoax, several false reports and a few would-be vigilantes with knives trying to present an atmosphere of mayhem, where there is none.
Irregular migrants, with nothing to do, and not allowed to leave the islands, have certainly been more visible, in the absence of any tourists for the last year. While many have few if any resources, there are those of them who have enough support to survive a few months. They receive no financial aid, and so quickly become dependent on the reception network, where they wait in hope, slowly realising that 90% or more of them will be told to return to their points of origin without ever getting to mainland Europe.
Small numbers of residents in the south have certainly felt less secure, many women report feeling intimidated by groups of young men hanging around the streets. However there have been very few actual incidents. To try to allay public fears, about 40 extra Policia Nacional were drafted in to police the situation more visibly, and 20 or so of our specialist Guardia Civil tactical response unit, GRS8 based on Tenerife, were posted twice to the south of the Gran Canaria to ensure a very visible presence on the streets, however they have primarily been relegated to traffic controls and stop and search duties. One GRS8 officer consulted (not an official spokesperson) directly told The Canary News “Right now we are mainly here to help Canarian citizens and foreign residents to feel safer. Though we have been called to isolated incidents, our skill sets have not been required, so we observe and make sure that we are visible to the population, carrying out patrols and traffic stops. There is not a serious security issue right now on Gran Canaria, it is more public relations to keep everyone calm.”
By far the biggest concern so far has been the handling of unaccompanied minors, more than 2,600 of whom are currently under the care of the regional government’s child protection services, with very little support having yet materialised from mainland Spain, with the exception of some extra finances, and wholly inadequate facilities being used to accommodate the youths among residents living in empty tourist resort towns.
Like it or lump it, we face an even larger influx of migrant arrivals this year, and therefore maritime rescue operations. Everyone, including Spain’s own recent Ombudsman’s report, agrees that the response has been wholly inadequate, and we as a society need to improve how we deal with the reality of something that cannot be easily stopped in the short term. We face the potential of a quickly growing crisis, primarily humanitarian, here on Europe’s southernmost maritime border, if Spain’s central government and the EU do not act quickly to ensure that this archipelago does not become a prison, for both irregular migrants, and residents alike over the coming months.
With growing unemployment and an economy in free fall we can expect more tension from the resident population who see increasing migration as an existential threat on top of so many other calamities over which they have little or no control. This will take a lot of energy and many years to effectively overcome, but right now we need to calmly deal with the realities of the situation. We either work together to get through it, or more angry voices, offering no real solutions, continue to polarise our communities.
Edward Timon.:. Editor
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The Canary News
Pruning and burning at the peaks and inland areas of Gran Canaria
Jan, 2021 | Education, Environment, Fire, Natural World, News
You may see occasional columns of smoke at the summits of Gran Canaria around this time of year, as the Cabildo (island government) carry out pruning and ‘burning heaps’ projects around the the island’s peaks, aimed at preventing the spread of forest fires, also using the burnt trunks, of non-native Pinus Radiata, the Monterey pine, which were introduced in the 1950s, they are not resistant to fire like the canary islands pine, so they now use these to create earthwork barriers, called wrapping, to help prevent erosion.
#WeCrossMountains
Winter is when forest fire crews and the environment agency take advantage of the cooler weather to carry out fire prevention actions, such as prescribed burns, and advise that citizens use this time of year to clean the surroundings of their houses to help protect from fires, as otherwise it can hinder the work of fire crews in the event of a blaze. Home owners in the more mountainous areas are advised to removed debris and weeds from their property boundaries, since the accumulation of dry vegetation offers fire the continuity it needs to expand, as happened in 2019.
The Cabildo environmental and forestry brigades, which carry out their work in public woodlands, have already completed burning and wrapping in the Degollada de Las Palomas area, in the El Huerto nursery, and around the perimeters of Artenara, including the heliport, as well as in Llanos de Ana López in San Mateo and in Monte de Crespo of Valleseco, close to where the 2019 fire originated.
The tasks, which will continue over the coming weeks, involve the preventive pruning of Canary Island pines and Radiatas in order to make it difficult for fire to reach their crowns, which apart from helping to preserve the specimens, slows the potential for the spread of fires. After that, the brigades create burning heaps along with branches and other fallen debris to eliminate this potential wildfire fuel.
These silvicultural tasks aim to leave wild fires without fuel while providing an opportunity for the selective cutting of specimens with signs of disease or weakness, especially in areas with an excessive concentration of trees. Likewise, the Radiata pines affected by the fires, that are still standing despite being dead, are cut down to avoid the risks associated with their falling due to strong winds or any other cause.
These trunks are then used to stop erosion of the slopes, and are placed perpendicular or to forming V shapes, depending on the terrain and the slope, so that they help retain soil in case of rain and runoff.
These works also clear the ground for new reforestations with Canary Island pine, which encourages this endemic species to gain ground against Radiata, also known as the California pine, a variety with great adaptability and rapid growth that was originally used here in the 1950s to reforest large areas of Gran Canaria, although their resistance to fire is much lower.
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Gran Canaria’s southern apricot harvest has been reduced by 70% due to calima and drought
May, 2020 | #TheCanaryCoronaVirus, #Tourism0, Fairs & Markets, Maspalomas, Weather
The south of Gran Canaria is currently in the middle of the Tirajana apricot harvest. The municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana have predicted that the harvest will see a 70% reduction, having gone from 100,000 kilos last year to a forecast of 30,000 kilos of fruit for 2020, beingf of good quality.
The February calima, which caused significant damage to the flowering of the earliest apricot varieties, as well as a severe lack of rain that has been suffered over recent years, has led to a big fall in production this season, according to municipal technicians in the field.
Zones including Hoya Grande, Tunte, Fataga, Cercados de Araña, Manzanilla, among others, make the municipality of San Bartolomé de Tirajana one with the highest production zones for apricots in the Canary Islands, which are mostly delivered to the Zona Alta Agricultural Cooperative in Tirajana, in the Villa de Tunte, with sales made through a public company, Gestión del Medio Rural de Canarias (GMR).
Tirajana apricots have been promoted for several years by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, through financial contributions, as well as by the Government of the Canary Islands and the Town Hall of San Bartolomé de Tirajana. Apricots from the area are mainly marketed in boxes and crates with distinctive labeling. This year they will be much rarer than usual.
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Gran Canaria Fires: Spanish Minister joins press conference, protecting life is priority
The president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Victor Torres, together with the president of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria , Antonio Morales , and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Agriculture, Luis Planas, have, at a press conference this afternoon, reported on the situation surrounding the Gran Canaria forest fires currently ravaging the mountains of Valleseco, Artenara, Tejeda, Guía, Gáldar, Agaete and Moya, that last night reached the protected area of Tamadaba.
In total, more than 6,000 hectares (60km2) have been affected and nearly 9,000 people evacuated. According to the authorities the next 48 hours will be essential to controlling the fire in the central area of the island. It is generally thought that 90km2 could have burned by the end of today, which is half the total of the Great Fire in 2007.
A drone has joined the effort to fight the fires, along with four other aircraft and the brave teams that are currently working on extinguishing the blaze, the Minister of Agriculture said during his appearance. “The deployment of means to quell this fire is one of the most important actions carried out in recent years both in the Canary Islands and throughout Spain and the priority is to avoid loss of human life, as well as minimise material and social damage” stressed Luis Planas.
When questioned about blame for the current situation, Planas told reporters that this fire is less about politics, and more about climate change. “something is definitely changing” he said “something has changed”
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Advertise your business to English Speakers on Gran Canaria We have a range of exciting advertising opportunities starting from as little as 2€ a day online, having been in print for ten years we are now moving towards English language video and television, and with a regular audience reach of more than 50,000 people every week, 15-20,000 individuals come to our website every month 2-3 times a month.
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The potential of geothermal energy on Gran Canaria
Mar, 2019 | Cabildo, Environment
The first phase of a study promoted by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria to help understand the geothermal potential of the island suggests the existence of resources capable of generating electricity using heat from below the earth’s crust.
The results mean the study can now move on to the second phase so as to determine where it may be most appropriate to undertake three 2.5-kilometre-deep drilling sites, stage 3, each aiming to achieve definitive confirmation of the possibilities and if they are technically and economically exploitable resources.
The confirmation would allow this source of clean and constant energy to integrated into the energy mix foreseen by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria as part of their long term goal to stop importing oil and instead generatE electricity from the island’s own natural sources, namely the sun, wind and heat from the earth as the Azores already do.
Simulación geotermia en Gran Canaria
La primera fase del estudio impulsado por el Cabildo para conocer el potencial geotérmico de Gran Canaria sostiene la existencia de recursos capaces de generar electricidad a través del calor de la tierra.Ello permite pasar a la segunda fase para determinar los puntos en los que, ya en la última fase, acometer tres perforaciones de 2,5 kilómetros de profundidad cada una para lograr la confirmación definitiva y si son recursos técnica y económicamente explotables.La confirmación permitiría integrar esta fuente de energía limpia y constante en el mix energético previsto por el Cabildo para Gran Canaria para dejar de importar petróleo y generar electricidad a partir de sus fuentes naturales, esto es el sol, el viento y el calor de su tierra como ya hace Azores.
Gepostet von Cabildo de Gran Canaria am Dienstag, 12. März 2019
World Environment Day Litter-Pick #Maspalomas #GranCanaria #TravelWithoutPlastic
Jun, 2018 | Community, Environment, Events & Leisure, Maspalomas
On Wednesday a volunteer team of local residents, environment groups and an amazing team of tour reps from two of the largest tour operators on Gran Canaria all joined forces for a World Environment Day Litter-Pick, to help clear a kilometer long stretch of roadway. Everything they found was deposited at the main Cabildo Punto Limpio (Clean Point) on the Palmitos Park road near the old water park.
A small team were also deployed specifically to remove debris and cigarette butts from one of the most prestigious viewpoints over the Maspalomas Dunes, proving that even the best maintained areas of our tourist zone still require the commitment of all visitors and residents to try and maintain the highest possible standards for our places of outstanding natural beauty. They wanted to show that this is a shared responsibility.
With over one hundred people having attended the event, organised by #TravelWithoutPlastic in collaboration with #TUI and #ThomasCook local resort teams, in just two hours collected a TOTAL of 5,234 pieces of rubbish broken down as follows:
960 Cigarette Butts
2715 Plastic Items
6 Foam
94 Metal (cans etc)
150 pieces of glass
1205 Paper pieces
3 pieces of Fishing Gear
84 Packaging items
17 Personal Hygiene Items
+Plus 5 bags of organic rubbish and some random items like a shopping trolley, a car tyre and a huge dog crate that had been discarded by the side of the road.
The beach clean mainly removed cigarette butts and small pieces of tissue and detritus left by unhelpful passers by, though in general found the beach area to be outstandingly clean, there was still a need for more work to help remove items that harm the environment from the natural reserve area, and the litter bins were packed full, so perhaps need supplementary capacity to help beach users properly dispose of their waste.
All in all Maspalomas has a lot to be proud of… well done everyone you should all be proud of your contribution.
Wild fires Alert on Gran Canaria this Wednesday, with temperatures set to exceed 34ºC in the shade
by Timon .:. | March 28, 2023 | Alerts, Environment, News, Weather | 0 CommentsSpringtime has only just begun and already the temperatures, in the shade, on Gran Canaria have been repeatedly hitting the low to mid-thirties, which brings with it also a rising risk of Forest Fires and Wildfires. Here in the Canary Islands forest fire crews are...
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Works on the new Soria-Chira hydroelectric project expand to the Soria Dam
by Timon .:. | December 12, 2022 | Environment, Government, News, Technology | 0 CommentsThe new Salto de Chira hydroelectric power station project broke ground this year, after nearly 2 decades of planning, with works now being prepared on the primary wall of the Soria dam (the largest in The Canary Islands) and its surroundings, where a spillway will be...
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Gran Canaria’s Southern tourism heartlands have only one Blue Flag beach, with none in Mogán for 5 years now
by Sanna | May 13, 2022 | Environment, News, Tourism | 0 CommentsThe Canary Islands have been awarded 54 Blue Flag beaches and four awards for marinas, distinguishing those facilities that meet criteria of excellence, in terms of the quality of bathing water, environmental regulations, and health and safety infrastructure. While...
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Measuring the effects of a nuclear blast in Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria
by Timon .:. | March 28, 2022 | Environment | 0 CommentsWhat would happen if a nuclear blast went off in Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria? Anti-nuclear war campaigners, Outrider.org, have produced a simulation system that allows you to choose any town or place to see what the immediate effects would likely be were they unlucky...
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66 specimens of the Yemen chameleon located on Gran Canaria since 2017
by Sanna | February 23, 2022 | Community, Environment, Natural World, Sunshine | 0 CommentsThe Canary Islands Ministry of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning, through the Canary Islands Early Warning Network for the Detection and Intervention in cases of Invasive Alien Species (RedEXOS) working the public company...
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More than 3 million square meters of Güi-Güí is now publicly owned by Gran Canaria
by Sanna | June 3, 2021 | Cabildo, Environment, News | 0 CommentsThe Cabildo de Gran Canaria island government has acquired, through auction from the State Tax Administration Agency (AEAT), a total of 2,852,630 square meters, in two plots, at the centre of the Güigüí Grande and Chico ravines, for €2,876,000. These lands join the...
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Seaplane heroes of 43 Group carry out Gran Canaria exercises ahead of the summer heat
by Timon .:. | May 18, 2021 | Environment, Maspalomas, Military | 0 CommentsBeach users, bathers and holidaymakers, those few, for now, on Gran Canaria's favourite Maspalomas beach, were treated to an unusual surprise on Monday. Delighted sun seekers unexpectedly witnessed some of the preparatory exercises currently being...
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Gran Canaria Cabildo to plant 8000 trees across several zones, recovering forest, and creating green fire-resistant areas
by Sanna | April 19, 2021 | Cabildo, Environment, Fire | 0 CommentsThe Cabildo de Gran Canaria are allocating more than €400,000 to plant 8,000 laurel trees, and thermophilic forest containing species resistant to fire, at the eight of the largest island farmlands on the north of Gran Canaria.[fb_plugin save] - [fb_plugin like] Each...
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Coastal Authority file complaint for Tauro Beach environmental pollution from desalination outlet pipe buried under the sand, Anfi Group claim ignorance, the fences will stay up for now
by Timon .:. | April 8, 2021 | Environment, investigation | 0 CommentsFive years after the Tauro bay was closed officially to the public, due to a hastily green-lighted project to import sand from Western Sahara, as part of an Anfi Group tourism development, followed by a legal dispute with the company and the constructors of the...
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Gran Canaria Weather: Time to hit the beach at more than 28ºC in the shade, Calima bringing Saharan Dust and 70kmph+ winds, light rain possible into next week
by Timon .:. | March 25, 2021 | Environment, Mogán, News, Weather | 0 CommentsThe Canary Islands General Directorate of Security and Emergencies declared a state of pre-alert yesterday in anticipation of Calima affecting Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Tenerife and La Gomera. A yellow advisory was already in place for winds expected to...
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Welcome to the Future: Gran Canaria announce grants for solar panels
Apr, 2018 | Business, Cabildo, Education, Environment, Government, News
The Cabildo de Gran Canaria will agree subsidies for the first time for the installation of photovoltaic panels on homes and industrial buildings, according to the Minister of Energy, Raúl García Brink, during a conference he recently gave as part of the III Jornadas sobre Cooperación y Desarrollo de la Real Sociedad Económica Amigos del País de Gran Canaria.
With amounts ranging up to €200,000 the project is part of the measures adopted by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria to promote the penetration of renewable energy for self-consumption, added the counsellor, who noted that the call will be published most likely in May and that the Cabildo will inform the population of the regulations and requirements to benefit from this “push” for individuals to install solar panels.
The objective “is to promote self-consumption (auto-consumo) at a particular level and photovoltaics is a great opportunity because here we have enormous possibilities and the development we have is still small,” said the counsellor.
The counsellor, at the conference ‘The Cabildo de Gran Canaria facing the challenges of the XXI’, recalled that the island institution approved the Strategic Plan of Grants for the realisation of studies of energy efficiency in November and encourage the use of alternative energy for individuals and companies along with other actions aimed at minimising the impact of climate change and achieving maximum energy sovereignty through renewable energies.
The great transformations, he said, arise with the sum of other smaller ones, from the institutions, but also from each home. In addition, the Cabildo launched in 2016 the Climate Action Group made up of independent scientists, the two Canarian universities, the ITC (Canarian Institute of Technology) and several environmental organisations with the aim that civil society can work and contributein the definition and development of climate change actions.
The Insular Council of Energy, created in the current mandate, has a budget of more than two million euros this year, and coordinates the pact of Mayors that brings together 15 municipalities on the island that are involved in the development of plans of action for climate and sustainable energy with the help of a dozen engineers trained to do so. It is also in the process of preparing a diagnosis of risks, vulnerabilities and adaptation to climate change in Gran Canaria. The goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent by 2030.
The Cabildo has also signed an agreement with Involcan to analyse the evolution of Gran Canaria’s geothermal potential through field work and to determine the electric power generation system that would be most optimal for the island. More than 3,500 points have already been analysed and before the end of the year there will be conclusions after an investment of half a million euros.
García Brink detailed other actions such as the electric vehicle recharging network in 17 municipalities of the island, in addition to the celebration of the second Movelec Fair in Infecar on 27 and 28 April on this type of car.
The Cabildo also promotes wind farms on land they own, such as the environmental complex of Juan Grande, which will be put out to tender this year for two more megawatts, in addition to another planned in Agüimes. On the other hand, the Infecar car parks will host a photovoltaic plant for self-consumption of 94.5 kWp, in addition to the 36 kilowatts auto-consumo plant that has already gone out to tender for the central park of the insular institution.
The Society for Economic Development is also a participant in the actions to face the new century with the Smart Island programs, including an early detection system for fire points, as well as incident and emergency management, a project monitoring and control water network and water leaks and the third already tendered for intelligent screens for public transport.
Welcome to the future…
