SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, September 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The spokesperson for the Socialist Group in the Tenerife Cabildo, Pedro Martín, presented this Wednesday a plan of measures for the recovery of the mountains damaged by the forest fire that would initially have an investment of 21,264,000 euros in a multi-year plan until 2025 .
Among the different proposals made, the immediate payment of food aid for livestock and beekeeping that exceeds 2.6 million euros is requested and the urgent convening of the Insular Animal Welfare Council, the Cabildo’s advisory body on the matter.
“The Cabildo of Tenerife should not waste a second in having projects and financing prepared for the restoration of the burned mountain and the areas affected in the winter months,” said Pedro Martín at a press conference.
Thus, he stressed that in July 2022 a multi-year action plan was established until 2024 with a budget of 4.6 million euros for the recovery of 2,700 hectares, that is, restoration work began “a month after the fire broke out.” as extinct” and currently there is talk of 15,000 euros.
“The Cabildo of Tenerife must respond in equal or greater measure to this misfortune,” he stressed.
The budgetary effort in aid for the island’s livestock has evolved progressively since 2019, where it went from 2.3 million budgeted to more than 8 million for 2023, commented counselor Javier Parrilla, who insisted that ” This effort must be redoubled now” given that we are experiencing the “worst times for many agricultural, livestock and beekeeping operations.”
Regarding beekeeping, the socialists pointed out that in December 2022 the first Strategic Plan for Beekeeping in the Canary Islands was approved, which establishes concrete measures and promotion of entities such as the Beekeeping Table and the Honey House, which must serve of main tools for the recovery of lost beekeeping.
For this reason, they have presented a plan with ten initial measures, among which are the immediate payment of aid for livestock feeding, for 2,500,000 euros, called in March 2023, and complementary aid for bee feeding, for 140,000 euros, taking into account compliance with all the necessary requirements of the 2022 call.
They also request extraordinary aid to replace the beekeeping infrastructure and the livestock herd and compensate for the loss of production, for an amount of 1,764,000 euros to all those beekeepers who have suffered losses as a result of the fire.
For livestock, for their part, they propose an investment for all livestock farms located in the affected area of 500,000 euros, in addition to promoting Forest Management in Agricultural and Livestock Farms on the island through the Forage Plan of the island of Tenerife. , with the purpose of sustainable use of forest resources.
19 MILLION EMERGENCY LINE
Next, they understand that the Tenerife Cabildo must urgently establish a line of 19,000,000 euros within the period 2023-2025, which allows immediate intervention in the restoration of the areas, the creation of fascines, containment through slopes, cleaning and preparation of the land, the recovery of trails and tracks, in a comprehensive recovery plan for the affected forests, for reforestation and other tasks necessary for it, including the use of drones for the dispersion of the species that are relevant to each of the affected spaces.
They also highlighted the need to convene in an extraordinary and urgent manner the Insular Animal Welfare Council, where the proposals of the Insular Government and the already mandatory application of the Animal Welfare Law will be taken into consideration, in all measures of promotion, coordination and especially follow-up on the measures to be proposed by the island Government regarding the establishment of an action protocol between the Cabildo, city councils, animal protection associations, livestock breeders’ associations and the Official College of Veterinarians for the evacuation of livestock farms , equine stables, animal shelters and private pets in the face of the situation of imminent danger due to forest fire.
“We know the seriousness of the consequences of the fire after listening to the different affected sectors, which is why we present this proposal for the approval of the next extraordinary plenary session, where we expect unanimous support from the mountains of Tenerife and its livestock,” Martín concluded.
