Visitors jeopardize the park

1988/02/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingurumena

The Teide National Park, located in Tenerife, has a unique and own vegetation, so visit eleven tourists. It is estimated that about a million tourists visit each year and that they could endanger their unique vegetation.

These visitors carry seeds of common plant species outside the park. Many of these strange seeds cannot stay in the park, but others do.

A group of British botanists have named 14 new species as permanent invaders. Among them is the wise leafy, one of the 5 most widespread species in the world.

Park monitors work for the conservation of local plants. Formerly strange plants were extracted and burned. If the gutters were taken care of and pulled out before the rooting of the new invaders, it would be better. Paradoxically, to ensure the conservation of the original vegetation and ensure attraction in tourists, the most prudent would be to ban access to tourists.