Haven Tenerife

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez has taken part in the presentation of a project for a huge battery factory in Sagunto, Valencia, the first factory to produce electric car batteries in Spain. In this initial phase, the new plant will service the Volkswagen Group and, says Sánchez, “will be the central pillar for turning the Comunidad Valenciana into a major European battery hub”. The Spanish PM said that “currently, nowhere else will be able to roll out the introduction of electric vehicles as comprehensively as Spain is planning”. Sánchez stressed that Spain is already the second largest vehicle manufacturer in the EU with a strong industrialREAD MORE

Photo: Efemérides Meteorológicas Canarias Technically, the von Kármán vortices are a repeating pattern in fluid dynamics caused by “vortex shedding”, an unstable flow of fluid around objects. More poetically, the “objects” in the beautiful image here taken from space are our islands, the Canaries. Isn’t it just gorgeous? You can see how they form in this video.READ MORE

Photo: Gobcan The Canarian Government has confirmed that it has formally submitted a proposal to the National Parks Network Committee for the waters south of El Hierro to be adopted as a National Marine Park. If approved, as seems likely, it will be the fifth national park in the Canaries. The sea area has already been declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and the submarine eruption some years ago has even further enriched its unique bio- and geodiversity. As a Marine National Park, the currently protected area would increase from nearly 3,000 acres to over 50,000. Meetings have already taken place between the Canarian Government’s EnvironmentREAD MORE

Photo: Loro Parque. Today, 25 April, is World Penguin Day. It’s also a day on which environmental organizations worldwide are expressing grave concern about the birds’ future within their natural habitats, almost all of which are under considerable pressure if not direct threat, especially in Antarctica. Many international scientific projects are underway to study the various species and their problems, including by Spanish specialists who have noted, for example, a decline of 40% in the population of Chinstrap penguins in a colony on Deception Island close to the Antarctic Peninsula. The reduction they’ve recorded has reached 60% in other parts of Antarctica, while another species,READ MORE

Photo: Aemet. It’s Earth Day. Let’s try to protect our only home, our planet, on a personal level. Whatever happens through Governments and large organizations, we ourselves must and can only do it on a personal level, in our own private homes. Let’s each just try to be aware, to do what we can, whatever we can. While we still can. No apologies for repeating my Call to the Canaries, again. It’s all we have. A CALL TO THE CANARY ISLANDS … UN LLAMAMIENTO A LAS ISLAS CANARIASREAD MORE

Photo: Tenerife Cabildo. © Beneharo Rodríguez. As I posted HERE in December, the osprey population here has suffered a particularly pronounced decline over recent years. In December, only seven pairs of guinchos still survived in just three places on Canarian cliffs: the uninhabited little island of Alegranza north of Lanzarote; La Gomera; and the Los Gigantes cliffs here in Tenerife, their last bastion in this island. Ornithologists have attributed their decline to tourist leisure boats, increased numbers of hikers in prohibited areas, and the extensive network of power lines and unchecked construction of wind farms. A project was thus carried out to try to saveREAD MORE