You are in Home > Conservation problems

Conservation problems

Feral Goats

The action zone of the present LIFE + project houses one of the best conserved natural Canary Island pine forests of Gran Canaria. This habitat covers approximately 80% of the area of LIC ES0000041 “Ojeda, Inagua and Pajonales”. It is presently suffering the consequences of a serious fire that took place in July, 2007, which affected practically the whole expanse of the habitat, a surface area of 3,318.96 hectares. As a result of said fire, the ecosystem was seriously damaged, making it the communities of endangered species the most affected of all, due to their already delicate state of conservation. Within this group of species we find several varieties of plant whose populations have diminished to a greater or lesser extent as a result of the fire. Similarly, gravely endangered animal species, such as the Blue Chaffinch of Gran Canaria, have been indirectly affected by the drop in availability of resources which the forest previously counted on.

Despite the pyrophytic nature of the Canary Island Pine and its capacity of recovery after such episodes, some select copses have not managed to bear the destructive force of the fire, affecting the most ecologically valuable specimens of the forest, given their ample capacity to produce seeds and its fundamental role in the conservation of the gene-pool.

Cabras asilvestradas
Feral Goats

To the direct consequences of the fire we must add other negative factors affecting conservation, such as the presence of introduced herbivores which jeopardize the survival and conservation of numerous plant species. We are dealing mainly with feral goats which, because of their grazing, impede any solid recovery of the vegetal covering and directly affect endangered populations whose numbers have drastically diminished almost to the point of disappearing.

Aviso legal