PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The Lanzarote island has undergone a profound process of transformation in the last three decades. From being a small agricultural and fishing community which could hardly sustain its thirty-five thousand inhabitants in 1960 it has been transformed today into a community of service industries based around tourism, with 77.000 inhabitants and 1.5 million tourists a year. In general, the island has been able to assimilate these changes whilst conserving the essential aspects of the island’s extraordinary yet fragile, natural and cultural heritage. This has been mainly due to a strong political vision which has aimed at avoiding the “get rich quick” economy which has had such devastating effects on the environmental and landscape resources of the Spanish coastline. Fruit of this sustainable vision was the passing in 1991 of the Plan Insular de Ordenacion Territorial (PIOT, - The Island Town and Country Planning Act ). This act led to both a substantial reduction in the number of tourist developments on the island (from 250.000 to 100.000 beds) and the imposition of restrictive conditions on this development in order to lessen the environmental impact. The designation by UNESCO of the Island as a Biosphere Reserve in 1993 was proof of the international interest in the Lanzarote experience over the last 30 years. It also presented a new challenge, as Lanzarote faced a new period of economic expansion that could threaten the fragile ecosystem which forms the ver y basis of the islands attraction. Some of these problems arise from a growing resident population ( more people leads to: more urban growth, greater extraction of natural resources, more cars and mobility, increased water and energy consumption and refuse generation and a more complex social structure.) The key to Lanzarote’s future lies in their ability to foresee the effects of change, to devise a sustainable development strategy capable of relating solutions to present day problems to its long term benefit, and with institutional capacity to prevent and regulate the impact before it is too late. The development of a sustainable strategy for the island will create the framework for coordinated joint action at the same time as providing the outside world with a more prestigious vision of the island as a quality, environmentally preserved enclave.
OBJECTIVES
The aim of the project was to elaborate a strategy that would provide the conceptual framework for the sustainable development of the island. The methodology proposed would be based on the principals of participative planning, in which key public and private actors would collaborate on the drawing up of a consensus-based joint action plan, which would then be implemented and monitored. A key concern was to create permanent mechanisms for analysising, discussing, implementing and monitoring progress on sustainable development on the island, and then to disseminate the model and results as part of the islands environmentally-friendly image. The process was divided into three main phases: 1) The initial design stage would first create the organizational structure and process involving the permanent organs for popular participation before carrying out an initial vision of the current situation, elaborate possible future scenarios and determine the central objectives and main action lines. 2) The planning stage would enter into specifics: objectives, projects and actions. 3) The final stage would deliver the proposed actions, monitor and evaluate them. The expected outcomes were the creation of a clear social and institutional consensus over the need and the priorities for a sustainable development of the island. This would enable the local authority to carry out long term preventative and remedial actions relating to the environment, with the backing of the key social and economic actors. It was envisaged that the model and results could then be transferred to other European islands.
RESULTS
The Lanzarote Biosphere Strategy was conceived as a process of institutional and social reflection over the key problem areas confronting the future of the island. Only through consensus, was it deemed possible to design effective solutions and have a chance of real implementation. The project therefore exerted enormous effort in the participative process, whereby the opinions of the different interest groups was genuinely sought and incorporated in the final product. The results are therefore much more than the final strategy document. The impact, however can only be judged by the degree of implementation of the actions proposed, their effectiveness of the monitoring and the degree of readjustments made to future policies. The beneficiary expects that the organizational structure and process created will continue as the essential framework for the sustainable development of the island. The Strategy document envisaged the need for 3 functions: development, conservation and research. This was developed through the analysis of 6 key thematic area ( Population , welfare and social structure; Culture and heritage; Economy, Tourism and Diversification; The Urban System; Environmental, nature and Landscape conservation; Minimising human pressure on the islands natural resources) and through the creation of an Observatory to provide both provide an information and watchdog role. The strategy process incorporated participation in all key phases: 1) The initial document was drawn up providing a preliminary idea of the objectives and work procedures to be applied. It drew up a series of future scenarios based on existing trends in 4 key areas: demographic and population trends, economic evolution, socio-economic situation, environmental impact – with five indicators: density of floating population, number of vehicles, water, energy and refuse. This was then presented to the media and meetings held with the different interest groups as well as with the 6 Theme Group teams. 2) In the second stage, social and expert opinion was actively sought involving more than 100 interviews as well as meetings and information session. These views were incorporated into a provisional strategy document which represented a first proposal of procedure and programmes and of the creation of the island “Observatory”. 3) The third stage involved the elaboration of the final document, including all the proposals and changes put forward during the participative process. The document was finally approved by the Cabildo de Lanzarote and the Council for the Biosphere and a dissemination campaign launched. Key results included the successful completion of an integrated strategy with a clear action plan that incorporated the role of key actors and time scales to achieve sustainable growth on the island. The objectives agreed upon included constructive social mixing, better quality of life, preservation of the natural and cultural heritage, control and increased quality in tourist services, recuperation of rural life based on reactivation of traditional rural activities and diversification of the economy. Two immediate key outcomes were the ten year moratorium launched limiting new tourist developments,the development of a pilot experience of selective waste collection and the of a bio-waste disposal unit. For the project the main success was creation of an organizational process and structure which enabled genuine stakeholder participation and the development of social and institututional consensus agreed on a programme for change. This model process could be of interest to other European islands facing similar dilemmas. . A follow-up ex-post evaluation, carried out in December 2004 by the LIFE external monitoring team, reported that the LIFE project has given rise to numerous subsequent projects related to the sustainable development of the island, within the framework of its Biosphere Reserve status and the L+B Strategy work. The L+B Strategy is being used as the key reference document for any regional initiative related to environmental or land use planning issues in Lanzarote. Recent monitoring data (development indicators) and other information about the L+B Strategy are available from the Observatory website at: http://www.cabildodelanzarote.com/.
