Guguy could become the first National Park in Gran Canaria

Published on September 13, 2021

guguy gran canaria gui gui — Photo: Cabildo de Gran Canaria Facebook Page

The president of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, has announced that the island's government is committed to achieving the declaration as National Park for Guguy in the shortest time possible.

This was announced as the conclusion of the meeting that the island leader and the Councilor for Ecological Transition of the Government of the Canary Islands, Jose Antonio Valbuena, held with the director of the National Parks Network, María Jesús Rodríguez de Sancho and her technical team.

The president announced that at the meeting they agreed to make a joint visit in the coming weeks to the proposal presented by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and the Government of the Canary Islands.

Two years ago Gran Canaria achieved for the area of Risco Caído to be declared as World Heritage, and with the implication of several institutions working together, the same achievement could be had with declaring Guguy the first national park in Gran Canaria.

For his part, the regional councilor for Ecological Transition, Fight against Climate Change and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands, José Antonio Valbuena, reiterated the support of the regional Executive for this project for a future national park and the involvement of his Department so that the procedures are accelerated as much as possible, adjusting to the deadlines established by the Ministry for this type of initiative.

The proposal presented by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria mentions that Guguy and its marine area already meet the conditions in place that every national park in Spain should respect.

Last June, the Cabildo de Gran Canaria acquired through an auction from the State Tax Administration Agency (AEAT), a total of 2,852,630 square meters of two plots in the center of the Güigüí Grande and Chico ravines for 2,876,000 euros. These lands joined the area of 225,340 purchased by the same procedure last January, to add a total of 3,071,000 square meters that become island property.

In this way, between the land of the island and municipal property, most of the Special Natural Reserve of Güi-Güí is now in public ownership, which would constitute the "nucleus" of the national park proposal due to the natural values of this area, which houses three ecosystems in the same area, from the pine forest to the southern thermophilic forest and one of the most important cardonal-tabaibal enclaves in the world.

The Canary Islands already have 4 amazing National Parks: