We introduce to you a project carried out in collaboration between Atusos, Association of Sustainable Tourism of La Gomera, and the Council of La Gomera. This project, called «Plántate» (which on the one hand means «plant yourself», and on the other hand means stop playing someone else’s game), aims to recover the native flora of the areas around the Garajonay National Park.
The ecosystem around the Garajonay National Park is a thermophilic forest, which requires less humidity and is more resistant to heat than the ecosystem of the Laurisilva protected inside the National Park. This thermophilic forest would make it possible to regenerate a traditional landscape of the island, the one that surrounds the laurel forest of our National Park and protects it with a green ring. Recovering wooded areas would also have benefits for the island’s water catchment and would prevent erosion of the slopes and prevent floods and other disasters related to soil degradation.
The project has two lines of action: on the one hand, to seek the collaboration of the owners of abandoned farms in the thermophilic forest areas, between 400 and 700 m above sea level. On the other hand, the financing of the initiative with donations from visitors to our island. With this aim in mind, a webpage has been created where visitors can calculate the carbon footprint of their trip and donate the corresponding amount to compensate for this footprint.
Not only the carbon footprint is compensated in the destination itself, but also the landscape recovery of the island’s midlands is achieved, with the obvious benefit to the improvement of the landscape and the recovery of the fauna.
Do you want to donate to this wonderful initiative?
