On July 30, the Council of Ministers approved the project to declare the Mar de las Calmas de El Hierro as the first 100% marine national park. If all goes well, when Congress approves it by law, it will become number 17 in a network designed to “guarantee as a legacy to future generations the conservation of a representative sample of the main Spanish natural systems.” Is this network finally finished or is there still work to be done?
“The sea is of course where there are the most deficiencies,” explains Beatriz Ayala, a WWF technician in the Canaries, when asked what the priority should be. “There are habitats of great value that still preserve a high degree of naturalness in the marine environment whose protection should be reinforced,” she continues. And that gives it a specific name: “The Guguy district, in Gran Canaria.”
It would be a terrestrial maritime park, like the Cabrera Archipelago or the Atlantic Islands, with one of the largest and best preserved sebadales (seabed plants), a residence area for cetaceans and turtles and botanical endemics of the coast such as the tabaibal cardonal. , the thermophilic forest and the threatened Canarian cedar. “And it is one of the most pristine areas of an island as devastated as Gran Canaria,” concludes Ayala.
There are high-value habitats that still preserve a high degree of naturalness in the marine environment and whose protection should be strengthened.
Beatriz Ayala
— WWF in the Canary Islands
The natural systems covered by the law are specific habitats and ecosystems that must be added to the national park network. There are 13 marine types that must be protected and some still are orphan such as “those associated with underwater gaseous emanations” who are awaiting the definitive declaration of the Sea of Calm and its Tagoro volcano before entering it.
“Of course, in the marine field we are behind,” acknowledges Theo Oberhuber, from Ecologistas en Acción. To understand this delay, it is useful to check how some terrestrial habitats are already found in 13 different parks – others in 11, 10 or eight – while some highly valuable marine ecosystems (such as deep corals, posidonia meadows or seba or areas of passage and reproduction of cetaceans) are found, at most, in two national parks.
Interior
Oberhuber also highlights gaps within the country. “The steppe environment, obviously, but, in addition, we would have to consider significant extensions beyond the new parks.” What are these? The ecologist highlights two priority cases, according to him: Ordesa and the Sierra de las Nieves.
In the case of the Pyrenees, Oberhuber explains that they “have been demanding for years that they be expanded to connect with France and through certain areas that, although they are not currently threatened, will be in the medium or long term.” Regarding the Malaga mountains, he recalls, “from the beginning they were badly born because they leave aside a large part of the Sierra Bermeja. There was a commitment to rapid expansion, but we are still waiting.” Many hectares of the Sierra Bermeja burned in September 2021 before considering its inclusion in the national park.
If the member of Ecologistas en Acción refers to the steppe environment, for SEO-Birdlife this point is essential: “Los Monegros (Aragon) should be a national park,” they say. “Arid lands are ecosystems of great value in danger of extinction due to intensive agricultural models,” they analyze.
The organization sent a detailed proposal to the Ministry of Ecological Transition with more than 28,000 hectares where steppe and agrarian species – such as the ricotí lark or the little bustard – in danger of extinction take refuge. This habitat is only present in one point of the network, the Sierra Nevada National Park (Granada). “And it only occupies 0.07% of its surface,” they specify in the SEO. “In Ecological Transition, they welcomed our proposal, while adding that the project must have the support of the regional government.”
We need to get the conservation spirit back. That national parks are increasingly untouchable and that is being lost. If we don’t guarantee it, why do we want them?
Theo Oberhuber
— Environmentalists in action
The coast of Guguy and Los Monegros of Gran Canaria has a specific project, but it does not indicate much. The first proposal to declare a national park in El Hierro was made in 2017. The approval of the project by the Council of Ministers took place in July 2024. And a few days ago, the Parliament of the Canary Islands requested the suspension of the file until there is, for the groups, a “total consensus” on the island.
Theo Oberhuber analyses that “the declarations of parks have ended up responding more to socio-economic and political interests than to conservation interests. The autonomous communities have become decisive in this process and without them there is no declaration.”
“We need to get back to the spirit of conservation. That national parks are increasingly untouchable and that is being lost,” says the environmentalist. “If we don’t guarantee it, why do we want them?” he concludes.
