The initiative led by ECOAQUA was launched two years ago to analyse the maritime areas included in the respective protected reserves of Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote-La Graciosa, and to achieve effective management that reconciles human activities carried out at sea with the sustainability of the marine ecosystems of these islands.
The four meetings, at which all the results and indicators obtained in the two previous phases of the project will be presented to the registered public, and in which their participation will be absolutely key, will take place between tomorrow, Friday 26 September, and 2, 7 and 8 October in Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Graciosa and Fuerteventura, respectively.
The AMPLÍA project, launched by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) through the Biodiversity and Conservation Group (BIOCON) of the ECOAQUA University Institute, aims to achieve effective management that reconciles human activities at sea with the sustainability of marine ecosystems, as well as to establish new horizons of care and protection that will allow for the future expansion of protected areas such as the Biosphere Reserves of the eastern Canary Islands. It will with the organisation of four workshops to transfer results tomorrow, Friday 26 September, and on 2, 7 and 8 October, in Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Graciosa and Fuerteventura, respectively, in a new phase in which citizen participation will be absolutely key.
Example of marine biodiversity in the biosphere reserve areas of the eastern islands.
At these events, which are designed to encourage citizen participation and involvement, registered participants (via confirmation of attendance to the email amplia. biosfera@gmail.com) of all the data and indicators obtained during the various phases of the AMPLIA project in the eastern islands of the Canary Archipelago, as well as the establishment of multisectoral working groups for analysis and decision-making with a view to defining a collective proposal for the expansion and/or management of the marine space of the respective biosphere reserves.
The initiative entitled “Diagnosis of the state of marine resources in the eastern Canary Islands with a view to expanding the marine area of their Biosphere Reserves”, known by the acronym AMPLÍA, plans to hold the first of these four workshops tomorrow, Friday, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., in Classroom Module C of the Humanities Building of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), at Calle Pérez del Toro, 1 (next to the Plaza del Obelisco), in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Gran Canaria.
José Juan Castro presents the AMPLIA project to fishermen and divers in Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote.
On 2, 7 and 8 October, these workshops will be held in Lanzarote, La Graciosa and Fuerteventura, respectively.
The workshop scheduled for 2 October will take place between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at the El Fondeadero Civic Centre, located at Calle Lanzarote 1, in Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote.
The workshop on 7 October will be held between 4.30 pm and 6.30 pm at the La Graciosa Inocencia Páez Socio-Cultural Centre, at Calle Calima 38, in Caleta del Sebo, La Graciosa.
Finally, the workshop on 8 October will take place between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at the Insular Youth Centre of the Cabildo Insular de Fuerteventura, at Calle Dr. Fleming 1, in Puerto del Rosario, Fuerteventura.
Airam Guerra presents the project to the general public in Gran Canaria.
Consensus proposal
José Juan Castro, PhD in Marine Sciences, researcher at the BIOCON Group of ECOAQUA and director of the Biology Department at the ULPGC, is the director of this project. He assures that with the celebration of these workshops, "we hope, with the help of all the participants, to be able to design a proposal that is that is as consensual as possible on the spatial dimension that the marine area of the respective Biosphere Reserves of the different eastern islands should have in the future, as well as which areas and ecosystems require greater attention and protection".
In Castro's opinion, this participatory process is ‘vitally important, not only because it will help to determine how the islands' Biosphere Reserve should be redesigned in the near future, but also because it will enable us to establish how the monitoring and decision-making process should be carried out, using the right combination of science and citizen knowledge, for the proper planning of its uses and management,’ he emphasises.
Thus, after an evaluation and diagnostic phase, the project aims to set up participatory committees which, in conjunction with public administrations, will seek to manage and control marine areas in accordance with their capacity in the context of climate change.
For this project, it is essential to reconcile human activities carried out at sea with the conservation of marine resources and ecosystems in Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and La Graciosa, with the firm objective of complying with Spain's international commitment to protect at least 30% of the marine area by 2030.
It is in this context that the AMPLÍA project was born, whose mission is to assess the current state of marine resources and determine the potential impact of expanding or rezoning protected areas such as Biosphere Reserves in the eastern islands. This initiative aims to include in this classification those marine areas that, based on research, are considered critical or vital for biodiversity.
In addition to José Juan Castro Hernández, the AMPLIA project involves the participation of Dr Lorena Couce Montero, Dr David Jiménez Alvarado, Dr Airam Guerra Marrero, and MSc Ana María Espino Ruano, Raibel Núñez González and Julián Cabana Gandiaga.
With a budget of €400,000, funded by the European Union (NextGenerationEU), the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge and the Regional Ministry of Ecological Transition and Energy of the Government of the Canary Islands, AMPLIA is part of the call for grants to finance actions in Biosphere Reserves within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, which will culminate in 2026.
In addition to ECOAQUA, the Department of Mathematics of the ULPGC, as well as the Biosphere Reserves of the islands of Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, and the Marine Reserves of the Canary Islands are also collaborating in this research.
More information at https://www.proyecto-amplia.com/.