The island authority starts drafting the plans after completing the prior public consultation period for submissions
The Cabildo de Fuerteventura, through its Spatial Planning department, has concluded the prior consultation process for drawing up the Protection and Management Plans for the Special Protection Areas for Birds (SPA, or ZEPA in Spanish) across the island that do not overlap with protected natural areas. These are the Lajares, Esquinzo and Costa de Jarubio SPA; the Vallebrón and Valles de Fimapaire y Fenimoy SPA; the Llanos y Cuchillos de Antigua SPA; and the Costa Norte de Fuerteventura SPA.
The prior consultation was open to public authorities and owners of affected land, and received almost twenty reports, which have now been passed on to the drafting team responsible for preparing the SPA Protection and Management Plans.
In order to continue encouraging participation, the drafting of the plans will also involve future public information periods to gather input from the general public.
These plans aim to establish the conditions needed to keep the areas in a favourable state of conservation, ensuring the preservation and distribution of the species found within them and taking into account the presence of priority habitats.
In this way, the plans seek to resolve the problems arising from the absence of such frameworks, reconciling uses that are compatible with the area’s natural value and aligning them with its protection and conservation objectives, according to the Cabildo’s president, Lola García, and the Councillor for Spatial Planning, Nereida Calero.
The Protection and Management Plans will define zones with different purposes and uses within the protected area of each SPA, depending on their level of protection and degree of fragility.
Among the problems facing the SPAs are habitat loss and fragmentation caused by urbanisation or changes in land use, disturbance to birds from unregulated activities, and environmental pollution and degradation caused by dumping, waste or alteration of the surroundings.
