The Cabildo of Tenerife, through the Museum of Nature and Archeology (MUNA), promotes an exhibition made up of three workshops aimed at citizens with the aim of promoting greater awareness and sensitivity about the important role that pollinating insects or reptiles play in the maintenance and balance of ecosystems. The project is launched just in the moment of the worst crisis suffered by beekeeping in Tenerife as a consequence of the great fire last August.
The fire burned or damaged thousands of beehives, in addition to affecting the tajinastes of the National Park Teideorigin of a unique honey on the Island. The bee population has been considerably reduced as a result, as has also been the case with the number of specimens of wasps or butterflies, which perform this key function in the cycle of life.
The first workshop took place last Saturday and the other two will take place on the 13th and 27th, starting at 4:00 p.m. They are free and open to all citizens from 16 years of age. The objective of the initiative is also to contribute to the protection of natural heritage, well-being and sustainable development.
The activity will promote dialogue about the diversity of pollinators, their habitats and importance for island ecosystems, specifically that of Tenerife. At the same time, the debate about its decline, as well as ways to reverse it, is projected in society.
Insects and reptiles
Pollinators are all kinds of insects, lizards, birds or bats. They perform an essential function, such as food production. For decades, a progressive decrease in these agents and their natural function has been observed as a consequence of human activity, an aspect that has set off all the alarms. A third of the insects that carry out this process are in danger of extinction and their survival is vital to guarantee the habitability of our planet.
This global decline in pollinators has been aggravated in Tenerife, as a consequence of the great fire that, in the absence of a definitive balance, burned between 2,500 and 3,000 hives but affected about 6,000 of the approximately 16,000 on the entire Island, located basically on the North and at high altitudes.
Francisco Linares, regional deputy of Canarian Coalitionin addition to mayor of La Orotavatook this matter to the last Agriculture Commission of the Parliament of the Canary Islands. The area advisor, Narvay Quintero, revealed within it that to try to alleviate the damage that the August fire caused to beekeeping in Tenerife, an economic plan is being drawn up that will be preceded by an “urgent” feeding process for the bees. At the request of Linares, Quintero guaranteed that there will be financial aid in the 2024 regional budgets for those affected by the fire.
Participants in the museum’s workshops will be able to learn in parallel, with the help of experts, the exhibition exhibition Cooperantes de la vida: pollinators. It is developed jointly by the Museum of Natural Sciences, the Archaeological Museum of Tenerife and the Canary Islands Institute of Bioanthropology – all of which are part of the MUNA –, with the collaboration of the History and Anthropology of Tenerife.
This new MUNA exhibition area, open to all citizens, aims to address the importance of pollinators, the causes of their decline and the need to implement global and local strategies, in addition to, individually, establishing a closer relationship friendly and protective of nature.
The activity is organized by the Museum of Nature and Archeology, the Competence Center for Participatory and Deliberative Democracy of the Joint Research Center of the European Commission, together with the University of La Laguna. It is supported by KIM Educativo and funded by the European Commission.
