SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Nov. 7 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands, José Antonio Valbuena, presented this Monday in the Parliament of the Canary Islands the department’s budget project for the year 2023, which on this occasion has a global item of 261,649,400 euros, which represents an increase of 20% compared to this year and 151% compared to what was allocated to this department in 2019.
The counselor stressed that these figures come to consolidate the effort that the current Government has made in matters as sensitive as the fight against climate change, the protection of our biodiversity, waste management or the energy transition. “Our commitment goes beyond investment, since the level of budget execution has also risen above 95% in 2020 and 2021, when barely 78% was executed in 2019,” he added.
Among the outstanding items, the counselor emphasized the investment that will be used to implement measures for adaptation and mitigation against climate change in the islands, which in the next financial year will reach 20 million euros (more than 16 million increase compared to to 2019). At this point, he stressed that 1,480,000 euros will be invested in Canarian universities for the development of projects related to this environmental phenomenon (1.2 million more than in the last budget of the previous legislature).
In the 2023 financial year, this Department will execute newly created items for actions such as the renaturalization of coastal spaces, with 5,722,158 euros, or the creation of an Observatory for Air Quality in the Canary Islands, financed with 1,211,620 euros .
The General Directorate of Energy is one of the services that experiences the greatest increase in its accounts, close to 55 million euros (76.52% more than in 2019). Among its items, the commitment to the electric vehicle stands out, with a budget of nearly 10 million (in 2019, 450,000 euros were invested in this section) and aid for self-consumption and storage, which reach 11 million in 2023 (in 2019, 3 million for this line).
The protection of the environment and the Canarian ecosystems is one of the fundamental axes of this Ministry and, for this reason, more than 17 million euros will be allocated in 2023 to the Biodiversity Service (338.4% more than in 2019). These accounts will serve to develop such important initiatives as the control of invasive alien species, the preservation of habitats or actions in Biosphere Reserves of the Canary Islands.
WASTE, WATER AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENT
The Waste Service is also subject to a notable budget increase, since it will receive a budget of 12.4 million (in 2019 it barely reached six million). Actions such as the waste prevention and management plans (1,546,489 euros), the execution of the El Revolcadero Complex (2,700,000 euros) or the Zurita Complex (one million euros) stand out.
In 2023, the General Directorate of Water will have more than 45 million euros, 127% more than in the last budget of the previous legislature, with which it will undertake such important actions as the sanitation and purification system of La Graciosa (one million euros), the Vicario Basin (1.4 million), the Telde EDAM (1.5 million) or the execution of the San Sebastián de La Gomera water tank (4.5 million).
This regional Council has been one of the departments that has received the largest recovery funds within the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. In this sense, more than 461 million euros have already been granted and transferred to the Canarian Government, distributed among specific financing lines related to Energy, Water, Waste or Biodiversity.
One of the agencies dependent on this regional Department, the Agency for the Protection of the Natural Environment (ACPMN), will once again receive an outstanding item of eight million euros in the 2023 accounts to protect the Canarian territory through the development of urban discipline and environment in the islands.
