REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PROFESSIONAL AND SCIENTIFIC WORLD OF CANARIES:

IN OPPOSITION OF THE INDUSTRIAL PORT OF GRANADILLA AND IN FAVOR OF THE PROTECTION OF ITS COASTLINE

The appended signatures are of persons of the scientific community of the Canaries Islands, who exercise their rights as responsible citizens toward the future, in December 2003

We declare:

• Recognition to the natural values of the coastal zone of Granadilla de Abona, of the present threatened flora and fauna species, as well as geological and biological ecosystems of importance, such as the complex dunares;
• Appraisal of the surrounding marine zone, that harbors the major “sebadal” (marine meadow) of the canary islands, of great importance for the fishing and the marine biodiversity, among others zones of great ecological value;
• Respect by the legislation of the European Union, that has declared the area as a “Common Place of Interest” protected by the Executive Habitat, for its importance for the European global level;
• Absolute support hence the creation of a natural space protected by the autonomous laws in the coastline of Granadilla, located in the north of El Médano;
• Surprise towards the affirmations that the industrial port of Granadilla is indispensable for the economic development of Tenerife, when it is known that the Port of Santa Cruz is rarely utilized and running on low capacity at the present time;
• Refusal towards the very negative economic and social changes that the construction of the port would be involved with the southern population of Tenerife, besides the increase of the terrestrial and marine contamination and of the destruction of beaches;
• Indignation about the curious data that the administrations are carrying out about environmental reports of scientific institutions, by its negative results towards the industrial habour (reports in www.nopuertogranadilla.org);
• Hope in which the population of the Islands Canaries choose their future guided by the information and desire for a stable harmonic social and economic development with the conservation of the greater values of Canaries: its land and its water, and
• Responsibility to call and therefore unite the efforts of all the social sectors to protect the coastline of Granadilla and to avoid the construction of the industrial port. 
• What accordingly is to be signed and consequently apparent to the opportune effects (by alphabetic order) :

This Declaration was signed by more than 51 professors and many other representatives of the scientific community at December 18th 2003.
Please see also press release.

PRESS RELEASE:

Thursday 18^th of December, at the University of La Laguna. 

During the morning of Thursday 18^th of December of 2003, a press conference was held in the Library of the University of La Laguna called by members of the professional and scientific world of the Canary Islands. There a declaration was presented in favour of the protection of the coastline of Granadilla and against the construction of the project’s area.

In the action created a declaration subscribed by 51 associated professors of the University of La Laguna and of other foreign and national university, numerous researchers of the university, members of diverse institutions such as the Natural Park of the Teide, the Foundation Pedro Garcia Cabrera and of the own government of Canaries, and other professionals of all the sectors of the community.

The assembly was carried out in base to the existence of numerous technical reports elaborated by the own University of La Laguna, as well as by other prestige researchers companies, such as GESPLAN o ISLA, that stand out the important economic, social, environmental and negative impact of the project of the port for the island of Tenerife. These reports that were carried out at the request of the Vice department of Environment, have been ignored by the promotion administratiors of the project inside the same Government of Canaries. These facts constitute a lack of respect to the dignity of the University institution. 

The scientists regretted the lack of dialogue of the administration, that has not been capable to open a democratic and public debate in the media of communication, with purpose to contrast reports and opinions of the most qualified persons in the different aspects of the port: environmental, economic, ecological and legal, and they requested a Forum of Debate which is extensively broadcasted in the television, and accessible to the population. 

The opinion of the experts was, that no imperious reasons of economic order for the building at the port of Granadilla existed, given that the port of Santo Cruz has been currently found and it was rarely utilized, and in necessary case its enlargement would have a smaller price and would suppose a smaller environmental impact. Besides, the project of Granadilla is not destined to cover the internal needs of Tenerife but to the collecting of traffic of large ships “transhipping”, alien in every al development of Tenerife there is no interest in the utilization of the port, which is shown by the economic study carried out. Because of this the port of Granadilla would create an economic disaster. 

On the other hand, and assured the professors, the reports bought by the Harbour Authority, that deny the environmental impact of the port, are based on false assumptions and contradict their own arguments. Since they establish corrector measures of the impact (that according to them did not exist), they are (on the other hand) completely unfeasible from a biological point of view. Because of all this, it will affect, in a permanent and irretrievable form, one of the most important zones of the Canaries: the “sebadales” (marine meadows). They emphasized, besides that the species of the Granadilla harbour coastline are in danger of extinction, communities of high natural value, ecosystems of great importance and rareness and which are (even) unique in Tenerife.

[BRIC - Home] [Contact] [Fungi] [Ecological remarks]