The natural catastrophe that has caused the forest fire that initially broke out, during the night of Tuesday, August 15 (five days ago and is still active today), in the Arafo mountains (municipality located in the northeast of Tenerife) and that in Right now it has entered up to 11 municipalities on the island, it has already reached and caused very significant damage to the natural heritage (fauna, flora, geomorphological structures and landscape) of numerous protected areas that have been cataloged in Tenerife: nothing more and nothing less than the Teide National Park; the only natural park on the island, the Corona Forestal; two comprehensive nature reserves, a natural monument and up to three protected landscapes, for a total of eight spaces.
The natural disaster caused by the forest fire has been consummated and the balance as of today, Sunday August 20, 2023 (with 11 municipalities with fire within its limits), could not be more dramatic: the only national park in Tenerife , the most visited in Spain, Mount Teide, burned down, and the only natural park on the island and the largest protected natural area on an island scale, is found with the greatest number of damages…
These central conditions are joined by others, such as those of the integral natural reserves of Pinoleris, in La Orotava, and Las Palomas, in Santa Úrsula and La Victoria, along with a natural monument, the so-called Barranco de Fasnia y Güímar, and up to three protected landscapes on the island, which are Las Lagunetas, inserted in the Corona Forestal and in the municipality of El Rosario; Las Siete Lomas, in the strip where the fire started, Candelaria, Arafo and also Güímar, and Los Campeches, Tigaiga and Ruiz, in the municipality of Los Realejos.
Of the 43 legally protected natural spaces in Tenerife, including the Teide National Park (42 have been declared by the Autonomous Community and all fall within the jurisdiction of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, also Teide, although with management delegated to the Tenerife Council), the forest fire de Arafo-Candelaria, as it is known, has already entered and damaged eight of those 43 places with legal protection due to their unique nature, which means that fires of forest origin have affected 19% of all protected natural spaces in the island of Tenerife; that is, a fifth of all of them, although with different consequences in the lot of those burned (eight), effects that are yet to be defined in detail, especially since the fire to date has not been controlled.
Tenerife within its network of natural spaces protected has the following protection modalities:
-National Park (1): Teide (affected).
-Integral nature reserves (10). There are two affected: Pinoleris and Las Palomas.
-Natural Park (1): Corona Forestal (main affected area).
-Rural parks (2): Teno and Anaga.
-Natural monuments (14). Affected that of Barranco de Fasnia and Güímar.
-Protected landscapes (9). Las Lagunetas, Las Siete Lomas, and Los Campeches, Tigaiga and Ruiz, places with conditions.
-Sites of Scientific Interest (6).
