SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, December 4 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Cabildo of Tenerife, through the area of Natural Environment, Sustainability and Security and Emergencies, the City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the Cepsa Foundation have launched a project for the environmental recovery of Las Mesas Park, located in the capital of Tenerife. .
The president of the Cabildo, Rosa Dávila; the mayor of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Bermúdez; and the head of the Cepsa Foundation, Belén Machado, visited this space today, Monday, in an event in which the Minister of the Natural Environment, Sustainability and Security and Emergencies, Blanca Pérez, was also present; the insular director of the Natural Environment, Pedro Millán; the first deputy mayor and head of Public Services, Environment and European Projects, Carlos Tarife; while Alberto de la Rosa attended on behalf of the Wolfredo Wildpret Botanical Garden Scientific Cultural Chair.
Rosa Dávila thanked the Cepsa Foundation for its collaboration in carrying out a project to recover “a space as important for the metropolitan area as the Las Mesas Park”, where a technical study will be carried out to undertake the environmental restoration work and the acquisition of plants to recover this space.
Rosa Dávila explained that it is an action framed within the ecological corridors program that the Cabildo has, which seeks to eliminate invasive plants and repopulate with native plants, and also highlighted the importance of having the General Foundation of the University of La Laguna, through the aforementioned chair to carry out the project.
José Manuel Bermúdez highlighted that this project is another example of collaboration between the Cabildo and the City Council and the Cepsa Foundation: “Las Mesas Park is an area that is just a few minutes from the city and seems to be in the middle of a natural area and Therefore, its state of conservation is very important to us. This project will allow us to continue with this work together with the Cabildo and the Cepsa Foundation for the enjoyment of citizens.”
For her part, Belén Machado pointed out that Fundación Cepsa is very satisfied with this public-private collaboration and explained that it is a joint project that will imminently entail a detailed geological, botanical and bioclimatic study to determine the potential vegetation of this environment, for which there will be the collaboration of the research staff of the Botanical Garden Chair, Wolfredo Wilpredt.
“In the short or medium term, environmental restoration will be carried out based on thermophilic forests and the planting of traditional fruit trees. All this will also involve citizen participation, with environmental volunteer activities, citizen science actions and, of course, educational and environmental awareness activities,” added Machado.
He also indicated that this action unites the interest of Fundación Cepsa in protecting and recovering biodiversity: “We want to contribute to turning Las Mesas into a green corridor from the Anaga Biosphere Reserve to the urban green areas of Santa Cruz de Tenerife with a flow of native species between natural and urban ecosystems”.
“We have been collaborating for years in this space in Las Mesas Park with the Santa Cruz Sostenible Foundation in reforestation activities, environmental volunteering and now we are also in the phase of creating a nature classroom and an environmental interpretation center and everything We intend to contribute to the environment and society in general,” Machado added.
ABOUT LAS MESAS PARK.
Las Mesas Park, which occupies about 168.2 hectares, is a peri-urban park and its location, very close to the metropolitan area, but outside protected natural spaces, makes it a space of great strategic value as an ecological corridor and for the development of recreational sports and leisure activities.
With this project, in addition to carrying out the technical study, the best way to undertake the restoration work will be addressed, including the organization of the space and the zoning and the catalog of species to be planted.
Likewise, it is intended to acquire a set of plants and trees that will provide quality plant material and can be used for the initial and short-term repopulation of the park, taking into account its peri-urban nature, serving to acquire experience for future production orders. and acquisition of plant material.
This collaboration framework is aligned with the II Action Plan of the Anaga Massif Biosphere Reserve 2022-2026, which includes several lines that cover the proposed actions such as projects for the ecological restoration of key habitats and ecosystems in an unfavorable conservation status (Line CPN04), projects and actions aimed at the implementation of the Tenerife Ecological Corridor Network (Line CPN05), maintenance and improvement of the system to combat invasive species (terrestrial area) (CPN02) and information campaigns to citizens on “Good Practices in the BR” (ACD05).
