UNESCO has declared Gran Canaria as a Biosphere Reserve in 2005 – around 40 % of the Island’s total surface are protected nature reserves.
Gran Canaria is characterized by its great biological diversity. Its geographical isolation together with the variety of available ecological niches for the vegetation have resulted in the presence of numerous endemic (local) species. Dramatic Volcanic landscapes, rare and precious laurel forests, fertile valleys and abundant beaches need special environmental care — which is a local political strategy of high importance.
We introduce new initiatives and research projects to showcase the wealth of knowledge and research available in Gran Canaria. We hope the topics inspire to support, and add value to business events and conference legacy projects planned on the island!
Fog As a Water Source: the Life Nieblas Project
LIFE is the EU’s financial instrument to support environmental, nature conservation and climate action projects throughout the EU. Life Nieblas is the 8th Life Project taking place in Gran Canaria, and it started early 2020, expected to last four years.
It is a project of the Medio Ambiente of Cabildo de Gran Canaria. Project leader Rainero Brandon Fernández explains:
“We are going to recover and reforest the southern slope of a mountain, highly degraded by human use (agriculture and livestock), by using different systems of atmospheric water collectors, but also different water storage and irrigation systems. The reforesting will use native plants to increase the vegetation coverage, thus achieving greater water filtration, decrease run-off, and increase the soil water absorption capacity. Hence, the environmental quality of the area will be improved, including more biodiversity and a reduced carbon footprint.
Other objectives are to test the efficiency of different types of irrigation systems and water collection. It is expected that 100% of the water requirements of the project will be covered by the water collectors.”
The “Fog” mentioned here is referring to the humidity brought over to the island by the trade winds from North Atlantic areas, especially in the Summer.
The native plant used to cover the reforested areas is the local Laurisilva — laurel forests (a type of relict forest, which only survived on some Macaronesian islands, after disappearing from Europe and Africa 65 million years ago).
The project will create synergies and collaboration between local and European administrative bodies, but also raise the community awareness on the relevance of forest coverage regarding water resources; showing the environmental importance of its conservation, recovery, maintenance and extension as a resiliency tool in climate change mitigation.
Here you can read more about the project https://www.lifenieblas.com/project
The Convention Bureau of Gran Canaria has access to a wide network of projects enabling knowledge transfer and business relations with meetings and conferences visiting the island.
If this particular project of reforesting and alternative water resources is relevant to your business conference or meeting, contact CG Convention Bureau, Sergio Maccanti for discussing a matching program.
Gran Canaria is working to become an ECO-Island, using renewable and self-sufficient energies, local production of food, support for the rural world, desalination and water purification, reduction of plastics and reduction of carbon footprint for products, etc.
All of these topics will be relevant for everybody in the years to come and any cross-border collaboration and knowledge transfers can help to accelerate solutions that help our planet.
your contact:
