The mayor of Arona, José Julián Mena, has formally asked the Government of the Canary Islands to promote an initiative before the Parliament of the Canary Islands that allows the delimitation of the Malpaís de Rasca Special Nature Reserve to be approved. He proposes the aronero councilor that must be formulated “in the terms” in which this matter was addressed by the Island Government Council in a meeting held during the month of March 2019.
In a letter addressed to José Antonio Valbuena, Minister for Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands, the mayor of Arona recalled that it has been more than three years since the Cabildo government ruled on the expansion of the Malpaís de Rasca Special Nature Reserve. It is an area of Arona considered to be of high ecological, cultural and ethnographic value. In the letter, Mena stressed to Valbuena that the Cabildo’s position is to increase this space from the current 315 hectares to 475, which is equivalent to an estimated 50% increase.
The municipal government of Arona raised the initial proposal during the month of June 2018. Then, and now, the objective of this measure was and is “to preserve this Special Nature Reserve from urban pressure or any other threat derived from human action , such as the transit of off-road vehicles, the dumping of waste or the looting of archaeological remains».
José Julián Mena has highlighted in his communication the Regional Executive that the Malpaís de Rasca has an important ornithological zone located in the surroundings of the so-called El Fraile pond. This place is chosen by up to 40 species to nest. In addition, the nature reserve is a space in which reptiles such as the blight, the perenquén or the spotted lizard, a large archaic lizard, abound. On the other side, there are also traces of the Amazigh culture (originally from North Africa), of the first settlers of the Island, reflects the alderman in the document that he has sent.
The mayor of Arona explained that the extension of the protection zone “is key if we want to preserve an essential area for Arona and for the Canary Islands as a whole from urban pressure”, bearing in mind that it has a high environmental value and is a remarkable from the perspective of historical heritage. “Hence the importance of definitively promoting this initiative that the Cabildo approved in 2019 at a meeting of its Governing Council,” the alderman added.
for 35 years
This territory was declared a protected area in 1987 and is part of the Natura Network, as it was considered a Site of Community Importance (SCI) in 2001. It is located in the aronera town of Palm-Mar. The volcanic cones that make up this space, especially Montaña Grande –153 meters high– and Montaña Caraba –114 meters high–, make up elements of singular landscape importance. The malpaís is also an outstanding geomorphological element, whose scientific value is increased by hosting a natural habitat in a good state of conservation. It has some threatened species, both flora and fauna, such as the wormwood (Artemisia ramosa), which has its best populations here. The entire malpaís sector also has an exceptional cultural value, given its archaeological importance.
