Tension over the management of Teide National Park has escalated with the announcement by two significant conservation groups, the Association for the Conservation of Canarian Biodiversity (ACBC) and the Tenerife Association of Friends of Nature (ATAN), that they will not attend the competence transfer event. This ceremony, set for May 7 in Cañada Blanca, symbolizes these organizations' outright rejection of the Cabildo de Tenerife's environmental policies.
The conservationists severely criticize the new Master Plan for Use and Management (PRUG), promoted by the island corporation, arguing that it "reverses the Park's objectives." In their view, the plan prioritizes recreational and tourist uses, jeopardizing the integrity of the park's biodiversity and geology.
“"The Board should serve to debate and reach consensus on measures for the benefit of the Park, but we feel ignored."
One of the main concerns of ACBC and ATAN is the park's overcrowding, the reduction in staff, the authorization of new activities previously restricted, and the lack of an efficient public transport system to access the summits. They consider the Teide's "health" indicators alarming since management was transferred to the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo in 2007.
The discontent extends to the functioning of the Park's Board, where ecologists claim to feel like "uninvited guests" and denounce that their technical arguments against the PRUG have not been addressed by the Cabildo. This absence from the May 7 event underscores the deep division between the scientific-conservationist sector and the island administration, at a crucial time for Teide facing the challenges of climate change and human pressure.
