The Tenerife Council will request that the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands disallow the gathering planned at Teide to protest against the management and overcrowding of the National Park. ”Teide is not a place for demonstrations nor a backdrop for your ideological battles,” said the president of the island council, Rosa Dávila, this Wednesday. The protest, organised by the platform Canarias tiene un límite, is scheduled for the upcoming 7th of June with the aim of demanding the conservation of the Park and ”the defence of its values, against the prevalence of mass tourism and leisure promoted by the Council.”
Teide National Park is the most visited in all of Spain. In 2023 alone, it received 4,463,281 people. This significant influx of visitors, coupled with a lack of sufficient surveillance staff, has led to chaotic scenes in this protected area, such as cars parked outside designated areas, litter in the Park, barbecues, drone flights, or people walking off marked trails.
In the call for the protest, the platform emphasised that the demonstration ”must be an example of respect for the environment”, as it is taking place in a Protected Natural Area. In this vein, they have asked attendees not to bring megaphones, not to shout slogans, not to tread on earth or trails, to park in designated parking areas, and not to attach anything to walls or the ground.
”In this action, we will show our presence with banners and inform tourists of the issues facing the National Park,” they stated.
On her part, Dávila stressed that the protest is ”a contradiction in itself”. ”Protesting for nature while putting nature at risk seems entirely contradictory”, she said at the press conference following the Government Council meeting. ”So far, I have shown respect for the organisers, but I see this as a serious error that discredits them”, she said.
In this direction, she announced that from the Environment Department they will request the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands to ”deny this protest as it could impact the very nature”. From her perspective, ”the best way” to protect Teide is ”to do what this government is doing”. ”We will set a limit, introduce a green tax, and protect our National Park”, she asserted.
