“Safety in the Teide it leaves much to be desired”. This is admitted by Blanca Pérez, Natural Environment, Sustainability, Security and Emergencies counselor of the Cabildo de Tenerife. The new insular government has set to work to solve the problems of the National Park, whose means to control and management have become obsolete before the visit of four million people a year, which make it the protected area that receives the most people in Europe.
The urgent improvements mainly go through four axes: the reinforcement of surveillance and management personnel, the approval with the maximum consensus of a new Master Plan for Use and Management -the last mandate was left halfway-, the reopening of the Altavista Refuge and the preservation of the more than 200 species -the majority endemic-, especially exposed to climate change. “We have to take a leap to better protect it,” acknowledges Blanca Pérez.
The place declared a World Heritage Site currently has between four and five agents to monitor an enormous area of 19,000 hectares. There is also a retainer of the Civil Guard which is insufficient for the number of incidents that are registered in the Park. Lighting of flares, horseback riding, chops, camping, indiscipline when it comes to respecting the permitted paths… The actions of visitors who violate the rules accumulate but the majority remain without reprimand or punishment due to the lack of personnel.
The priorities are to reinforce the staff of the National Park and reform the Altavista Refuge
One of the first measures of the Tenerife Government will be to negotiate with the Government of the Canary Islands to complete the list of jobs (RPT). The regional Executive delegated the functions in terms of management of the Teide National Park to the Cabildo de Tenerife in 2015 but maintains powers, such as staff. «We are going to propose to the Canarian Government that the agents of the National Park have the same conditions as those of the agents of the Cabildo so that the offers of employment more attractive when it comes to reinforcing human resources”, explains Blanca Pérez.
The Minister of the Natural Environment believes that there should be “more involvement” of the security forces with powers to act in the protected area, from the local police of the municipalities with land on Teide to the Civil Guard and the Autonomous Police. “The idea is to seek maximum coordination so that control can be increased between the agents of the National Park and the security forces,” she qualifies. “What cannot be is that there are only four or five agents for such a large, fragile and important space for Tenerife’s biodiversity,” acknowledges Blanca Pérez.
Another challenge is the Altavista Refuge. The historic property where those who ascend to the top of Spain spend the night, located at an altitude of 3,270 meters, has been closed for more than three years, a period in which it has suffered damage from acts of vandalism, accumulation of garbage and deterioration, which complicates and further delays any reopening forecast.
The Cabildo is processing the essential wastewater treatment plant project to put it back into service, but when that installation is executed, a reform will still be pending due to the years of closure, the decision on its management model and the hiring of the necessary specialized personnel for its proper functioning.
“We seek maximum coordination with the security forces to monitor Teide,” says Blanca Pérez
In this regard, the first thing that Blanca Pérez is going to do is for this facility to stop depending on the Roads area – “it doesn’t make any sense” – and go to the Environment of the Island Corporation. Likewise, the new Natural Environment team is going to get to work remodeling a shelter that has been damaged by vandalism. A recent report puts the cost of rehabilitation at 600,000 euros.
The management model
“While the treatment plant project is resolved, we have to study the management model and speed up the remodeling of the Refuge,” stresses the counselor, who recalls that they are “complex” challenges because, for example, Altavista is 3,200 meters away, It lacks electricity and water, and moving any material there is “very complicated.” The last company that managed it was Teleférico del Teide.
