Scientists and activists have identified a protected species in Puertito de Adeje that is not included in the environmental report of the Cuna del Alma project, which aims to build 420 luxury villas in this enclave in the south of Tenerife. It’s about the sad echium, better known as the sad viborina or tajinaste del cardonal. “This species had not been detected to date, nor had it been reported in the content of the Environmental Report, drawn up by the promoting company and approved by the Canary Islands Territorial Planning and Environment Commission (COTMAC) on March 6, 2018. ”, sources from the Cabildo de Tenerife have recognized this newsroom.
On August 28, the Salvar El Puertito platform released a statement explaining that the people who have camped in the area for more than 40 days were forced to hinder the work of the excavators to “prevent a crime against the environment. ambient”. According to the activists, after an appeal on networks, Seprona agents appeared at the scene and took photos of some specimens of viborina and cardones affected.
From the Cabildo they explain that the sad echium it is included in the Canarian Catalog of Protected Species as a special protection species. For this reason, the island corporation has sent a notification to both the Canary Islands Government and the Adeje City Council. This trade, as advanced by the newspaper Publicurges the administrations to “proceed to assess the situation and notify the Adeje City Council of the measures to be adopted with respect to the species during the course of the works contemplated in the authorized urbanization project and in the monitoring of the content environment of the same, without prejudice to the additional actions that are considered opportune”.
Sources from the promoter have explained that “that plant was not identified”. “It was not included in the Environmental Report because it had not been located, not even by the environmental groups that have been there for months.” Likewise, from Cuna del Alma they add that the technical team is currently “studying the different possibilities of action against this appearance”.
The Cabildo de Tenerife assures that until now no other protected species have been identified in El Puertito that were not included in the Environmental Report. However, the Salvar El Puertito platform insists that in the area where the works are being carried out they have also detected centennial cardons, gray cardoncillo, orijama and asparagus.
Activists have also denounced the destruction of cacti, as well as the Council’s proposal to transplant these species and use them to decorate roundabouts and public spaces. “It is as if you take a dolphin out of the sea and put it in a pool”, exemplified the botanical biologist Atteneri Rivero.
In this sense, the Cabildo de Tenerife emphasizes that the project must comply with 65 measures whose compliance and verification must be required by public administrations, specifically by the City Council. “The Natural Environment area of the Cabildo must also ensure compliance with these parameters, specifically with regard to the protection of the limits of the Space of Scientific Interest of La Caleta, the treatment of the plants that have to be transplanted and the care of the ecosystems that have been protected in the approved environmental memory”, they add from the insular corporation.
sanctioning file
The works at Cuna del Alma have caused “irreparable damage” to the archaeological heritage of Tenerife. The destruction of the deposits has led the Government of the Canary Islands to open disciplinary proceedings against the promoter of the project. The company Segunda Casa Adeje SL is exposed to a fine of 600,000 euros, the maximum foreseen for “very serious” infractions against property.
In a resolution issued on August 31, the general director of Cultural Heritage of the Government of the Canary Islands, Nona Perera, gives the promoter fifteen days to formulate allegations. Sources of the promoter assured this Friday that they had received that same morning the communication of the beginning of a sanctioning file. “You must pass all the corresponding procedures and allegations. In no case can it be considered a final sanction.
