The Council is set to collaborate closely with the towns impacted by the recent Tenerife wildfire, which ravaged the island last summer, with a goal to restore the burned chestnut agroecosystem, comprising approximately 75% of the island’s total.
In pursuit of this objective, the Primary Sector division of the Cabildo, under the leadership of Valentín González, convened a working session with the municipalities of Arafo, Candelaria, La Orotava, El Rosario, Tacoronte, El Sauzal, La Matanza, La Victoria and Santa Úrsula, areas where extensive chestnut tree groves from ancient agroecosystems were situated.
The meeting saw the presence of the Cabildo’s vice president, Lope Afonso, and Presidency councillor, José Miguel Ruano, along with representatives from the impacted town councils, as well as the College of Notaries, Cadastre, and the Canary Islands Government, among other authorities.
The Cabildo appealed to the municipalities for cooperation in identifying the 15,000+ affected farms, to facilitate the implementation of various recovery strategies, incorporating this initiative as a pilot project in the task force focused on activating neglected agricultural land, in cooperation with the Canary Islands Government.
González emphasised the importance of identifying the owners of the scorched agricultural lands in the cadastre, along with accurate demarcation and mapping, stating that the more up-to-date and accurate this information is, the more effectively it can support future decision-making.
Key measures outlined by the councillor include the updating of the Participatory Rural Diagnosis and setting up a nursery, as importing chestnut plants is unsafe due to chestnut canker, necessitating local production; the Agricultural Conservation Center of Tenerife (CCBAT) will play a pivotal role in this production.
