SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Dec. 21 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Cabildo de Tenerife has approved in the Governing Council a new Action Plan for Environmental Participation and Volunteering of Tenerife, a strategic document for the planning to be carried out in terms of voluntary and participatory actions, promoted by the Area of Sustainable Development and Fight against Climate Change of the Cabildo, in which citizens intervene to promote the autonomy and sustainability of Tenerife.
It mainly deals with the management of basic essential resources, such as water, energy and waste, while contributing to the mitigation of global warming and to an ecological and fair transition of the economy.
“Territory custody and attention to the Sustainable Development Goals are two of the novel and priority concepts that are incorporated into this document, which will be valid for four years until 2026,” said the Minister for Sustainable Development and the Fight Against Climate Change, Javier Rodríguez, who clarified that “this document renews the previous one, which in 2020 had expired, but could not be replaced by the new one due to general health circumstances and insufficient human resources for its developing”.
Along these lines, he assured that, however, work has not stopped on the new document since “an update was essential to guide the development of the work of the Office of Environmental Participation and Volunteering of the Cabildo.”
The Cabildo’s Environmental Participation and Volunteer Office has had a projection in its operation in the last four years, in accordance with the Cabildo’s objective of promoting social participation in all areas.
In this way, from the 148,929 euros in the 2019 budget, it has gone to almost 200,000 in the 2023 budget, according to a note from the Cabildo.
Stewardship of the territory, one of the structural axes of this plan, is the set of legal strategies or techniques through which the owners and users of the territory are involved in the conservation and use of natural values and resources, cultural and landscape, “key factor for community development and participatory sustainable governance of the island,” said the counselor.
This document, it indicates, “is structured around four major areas of work around volunteering: land stewardship, corporate social responsibility and environmental participation processes, all aligned with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the 2030 Agenda”.
ENVIRONMENTAL CARE
According to Rodríguez, “the vocation is to promote and contribute to the care and improvement of the environment and the sustainability of Tenerife, putting the entities and people who dedicate their time, altruistically, to this great work, at the center of the strategy”.
Grounding the plan to concrete actions, it is focused on carrying out actions on conservation and improvement of natural resources, the territory and the landscape, mitigation and adaptation to the effects of climate change, renewable energies, energy efficiency, sustainable mobility and the Pact for the mayors; conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage and promotion of agroecology; good use of infrastructures and equipment for recreational, tourist and sports activities and promotion of good sustainable practices, in addition to special attention to the fight against forest fires, and support for civil protection and emergency management.
On the other hand, this document raises the need to consolidate and strengthen municipal and regional programs as well as the Volunteer Program with the University of La Laguna and two work methodologies will be preferred: Citizen Science and Learning by Services.
The development of the Tenerife Environmental Participation and Volunteer Action Plan depends on the Sustainable Development and Fight against Climate Change Area and will be put into practice by the Environmental Participation and Volunteer Office, which is currently being developed through a commission to the public company IDECO SA
