The civil engineer who stopped a port from being built in Tenerife

The civil engineer who stopped a port from being built in Tenerife Spaniard Carlos Mallo received the Goldman Prize this week, considered the Nobel Prize of environmentalism: ‘Tourism is the main factor damaging the islands’ Civil engineer Carlos Mallo, 36, often recounts how it all began in 2016, when he started working on the insular highway in Tenerife in the so-called Teno-Rasca marine strip, a 70,000-hectare Special Conservation Zone (SAC) on the western tip of the island. This enclave, which borders three municipalities, constitutes a strategic ecosystem for sea turtles, seagrass beds, seaweed, and one of the largest whale sanctuaries in the world. “At that moment, I started thinking about that wonderful waterfront, overlooking [neighboring island] La Gomera .

I thought it was unique in the world and that they were building a road that would connect to a port, which would destroy that area,” he recalls in a telephone conversation from San Francisco. That was the beginning. Shortly after, he would leave the profession to found the NGO Innoceana.



This week, Mallo was awarded one of the seven Goldman Prizes, known as the Green Nobels, awarded annually by the American environmental foundation to the most outstanding activists working to protect the planet. Last year, another Spaniard, Professor Teresa Vicente, also received the award for her defense of the Mar Menor. The awarding of this prize comes at a turbulent time in the Canary Islands.

A year ago, thousands of people took to the streets to protest the effects of mass tourism . The organizing platforms have called for new demonstrations for May 18 due to the perceived indifference of the authorities’ reactions. Mallo agrees with the NGOs’ diagnosis of the harm caused by this industry.

“Tourism is certainly the main factor damaging the islands,” he concludes. “Extensive, mass tourism like that found in the Canary Islands destroys ecosystems. Clear examples of this are Los Cristianos and Las Américas [two low-cost tourism enclaves in southern Tenerife],” he explains.

“That area embodies the worst of the industry, but it wants to continue expanding elsewhere. There’s no physical space, and ecosystems have to compete with that type of tourism.” He doesn’t only detect a loss of ecosystems in the Canary Islands.

There is also, in his opinion, “a reality of loss of cultural identification, because there is an intense process of gentrification.” The new Goldman Laureate knows what he’s talking about. After the highway Mallo worked on, which was completed in 2016, the next step was to build the Port of Fonsalía, in the municipality of Guía de Isora.

This project consisted of a huge terminal for recreational boats and ferries in the maritime paradise, where Mallo himself has lived since 2012. Innoceana created a reference database on local marine species populations, their habitats, and the health of the ecosystem. At the same time, it drafted technical reports that demonstrated the terminal’s problems and outlined alternatives to meet transport demand, such as reinforcing a port in Los Cristianos.

In October 2021, due to the campaign, the Canary Islands regional government officially canceled the port project. The award winner not only demands “a reduction” in the islands’ main industry, but also calls for “a change in the model that must leave a positive mark. This will possibly make the tourism we receive more expensive, and the islands will be sold at higher prices, but only in this way will the damage done to the Canary Islands be reduced.

” Along these same lines, he also believes that infrastructure must be eliminated. “Dismantling is something that we are far, far behind on in all of Spain. People don’t want to talk about it because, in the end, it doesn’t produce anything,” he explains.

“Dismantling doesn’t seem to produce anything for the developmental system, but the reality is that it does, because it leaves room for those ecosystems to grow again.” He adds: “When an infrastructure is designed, it is designed for a useful lifespan, the time that the infrastructure will provide service. From then on, the project must enter a dismantling process.

” A case in point is the town of Puerto de la Cruz, one of the most-visited spots in northern Tenerife, where fecal contamination of the water has forced the closure of various beaches for the past several years. “They are probably the oldest tourist infrastructure on the island. They are obsolete and therefore causing almost insoluble problems because they are not being dismantled in a timely manner.

” Are these good times for the environmental fight? “It’s true that there’s a lot of discouraging news right now,” he admits, “especially when we talk about the current administration in the United States .” He extends this concern to other countries where Innoceana operates, such as Costa Rica — “they have very conservative administrations that don’t prioritize the climate, they don’t prioritize the environment.” However, he sees a different situation in the EU.

“In Europe, we’re still in a very positive moment in the fight against climate change ,” he emphasizes. “There are quite a few calls for proposals with millions in funding for conservation projects, projects in the fight against climate change. Or the Nature Restoration Act, which was passed less than two years ago.

” Even in the U.S., he tries to look on the bright side.

“Right now I’m in California, and there are so many foundations and administrations here that truly have that environmental sensitivity,” he explains. “What we need to do now is unite and work together, weather the Donald Trump storm. This will pass, and we’ll once again have leaders who have environmental sensitivity, the only way we can achieve human survival.

” Because, he emphasizes, that’s the key to his fight. “It’s not about saving ecosystems for the sake of it. When I think about their protection and restoration, I think about saving lives.

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