Canary Government pledges to fight effects of global warming on the islands

The Canary Government has declared a state of climatic emergency in the islands. This does not mean Mount Teide is about to erupt or the sun is getting too hot or that the heavens are about to open in biblical proportions.

What it does signify, how-ever, is a firm commitment to recognising the effects of global warming and the need to do something about it.
In technical terms, this agreement will allow processing of the Canary Islands’ Climate Change Law and the Canary Action Plan for the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.
Director of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning, José Antonio Valbuena said of the declaration: “It’s a fundamen-tal tool for the future of biodiversity, ecosystems, the economy and future genera-tions of the Canary Islands.”
The draft Law encom-passes objectives such as achieving full 100% renewable electric self-consumption, implementing carbon absorp-tion mechanisms in the physical means of the Canary Islands (marine, terrestrial and atmospheric), reducing energy demand to sustainable values, promoting the increase of energy efficiency, support research on climate change and create educational and information spaces for the population about these areas of action.
“This Law on Climate Change will also favour the creation of green economy and employment, a niche of job opportunities still to be explored in the Canary Islands and that should undergo significant development throughout this term,” added Sr. Valbuena.
The future Canarian Climate Change Law, compatible with the one promoted by the Government of Spain, will have the broad consensus of the Canarian society and the scientific community, in addition to the participation of the seven island councils and the 88 municipalities of the islands. In this way, effective policies to adapt to the impacts and mitigation of greenhouse gases (GHG) can be imple-mented.
In parallel, the Canary Islands Government also agreed, through the Declara-tion of Climate Emergency in the Canary Islands, to approve the Canary Action Plan for the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Deve-lopment Goals.
This declaration also provides for establishing the necessary political, regulatory and resource commitments to stop the loss of biodiversity and restore ecosystems; achieve a zero waste policy through consumption and the circular economy; support manage-ment focused on the recovery of fertile land and the brake on erosion, and on aquifers and improving efficiency in water cycle management; advance local and local economy models that promote ecological and local food, forestry, agriculture and live-stock sovereignty; regulate fishing to ensure the sus-tainability of the activity; establish and strengthen collaborative programmes with Africa in mitigation and fight against climate change, and adopt different adminis-trative simplification measures to achieve the objectives defined in the agreement.
The Canarian Executive sayas global warming will seriously affect the island and coastal territories of the entire planet and have a real impact on the Canaries because of the high level of GHG emissions registered in the archipelago.

Written by BayRadio