RURAL GROUP, FINAL REPORT (original document)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RQTCFIYC

RURAL GROUP, FINAL REPORT

ERASMUS INTENSIVE PROGRAM

European Islands: Development perspectives

CANARY ISLANDS 2011

TOPIC 4: RURAL AREAS IN CANARY ISLANDS

Historic development, contemporary processes and future challenges

MENTORS:

Ana Firmino, PhD, University of Lisbon

Raul Rusu, PhD, University of Cluj-Napoca

PARTICIPANTS:

Betul Akman, University of Innsbruck

Adela Crisan, University of Cluj-Napoca

Urban Furlan, University of Ljubljana

José Luis Palacios Guerrero, University of Seville

Yeray Suárez Ramos, University of Las Palmas of Gran Canaria

Stefan Wieser, University of Innsbruck

1. INTRODUCTION

Rural areas are a very complex concept. First of all the determination of rural area is not well defined. In Spain, like in other countries, rural areas are considered those who have low population density. In the Canary Islands rural areas occupy the major part of the territory that is why it is very important to study them. We have here a good example of Gran Canaria Island where the rural space is concentrated in the center of the island and it occupies the major part of it.

Agriculture, and the primary sector is not the only component of rural economy but we can say that is the most important one if we take in consideration that it is the main water consumer on the islands.The Canary agriculture is being continuously in an unstable structural and commercial period. Considering the main agricultural products we can distinguish two types of agriculture:

1. Commercial agriculture

This type of agriculture is being defined by products for export which are cultivated mainly along the coastal areas. The price and trade of these products are subject to high variations due to the international market. This problem in Canary Islands is very serious because of the high production costs related to the import of fertilizers and seeds, lack of water, low trade markets and transport.

Because of the globalization of the economy and the positive perspectives of the European market, this type of agriculture is subject to high pressure from the so-called “dollar area” in the case of the banana and from the Mediterranean Basin in the case of tomato.

2. Subsistence agriculture

This type of agriculture has the following characteristics:

-it is traditional and familial. Land is cultivated with rudimentary techniques although

some machines and new types of more efficient work are gradually introduced.

-the land is labored by one family which is either the owner of that land or it rented it

- most of the times the crops are the following : cereals, potatoes, fruit trees and vegetables.

-it is located mainly in the mid-sector of the north sides of the higher altitude islands

-it has a low outcome due to high fragmentation of the plots, landforms, the low degree of technological input and difficult market conditions

- it is also affected by the import of similar products which are found on the market at lower prices.

We can identify 8 main stages during the development of the agriculture in the Canary Islands.

1.The pre-Hispanic period took place until the 15^th century . There were almost no relations with the outside world.

2.The sugar cane period started at the end of the 15^th century. The sugar cane was introduced by Pedro de Vera governor of Gran Canaria. The crops covered large coastal areas of gran canaria, Tenerife and La Palma. It was the first product exported from the Canary Islands . The lower price of the sugar coming from Morocco and central America led to the abandonment of this crop in the Canary Islands.

3. The vineyards period started after the ruin of the sugar cane period. The Canarian wines were well received by the American and English markets. The economy of the islands was based on the production of wine until the end of the 17^th century.

4.The depression period took place during the 18^th century . The economy went down because of the loss of the former markets . The economy did not recovered until the creation of the regulation for the trading liberalization in 1788.

5.The liberal period comprised the first half of the 19^th century. The free exchange with England and France was introduced in Spain and the Canary Islands. The cochineal production was the most important one during this period.

6.The free port period started in 1852 when the law of Bravo Murillo concerning free ports was enforced. The contemporary period for the Canary Islands also began then. During this period, there was a large demographic increase and an important trading activity. Later the banana plantations and tomato crops became significant for the export.

7.The tourism period started after the civil war and especially after the sixties. During this period most agricultural lands were abandoned and the economy focused on tourism development.

8 The period of European integration started in 1986. Because of the accession to the European Union the primary sector of the Canary Islands economy reached a critical stage, mainly regarding fishing, banana and tomato productions. However, a number of political and economic measures were implemented, including governmental subsidies.

2. THE COCHINEAL (“Cochinilla”) IN THE CANARY ISLANDS

The cochineal (Dactylopius coccus) (Picture 1) is a scale insect, whose larves digs into the fruits of cacti (called tunos) were its becoming an adult and then dies there. The female produce a carmin acid, for preventing against enemies. This acid can be extracted from the insect’s body and used as dye, which is used for coloring clothes or food.

For the cultivation the cacti (mainly tuneras and nopales) are plant in rows and then they get infected with the cochineal. After 90 days cochineals are adult (Picture 2) and they get collected with big spoons by the farmers (Picture 3), killed by immersion in hot water and dried. For one kilo of dye it takes about 140.000 insects.

USE

Traditionally the dye, with its very extensive red color, was used for coloring clothes. Nowadays it is used in cosmetics (like red lipstick) or as natural food color (Picture 4). When cochineal is used in food, it must be mentioned on the packaging label where it can be found by the abbreviation “E120”.

ARRIVAL ON THE CANARY ISLANDS

The cochineal was introduced in Spain in 1820 by Don Ildenfonso Ruiz. He got them from Veracruz in Mexico and they were still alive, living in the fruit of the prickle pear cactus (Opuntia, nopales). After a few years of studying the insects, they made a proposal to King Fernando VII for developing the cultivation of cochineal. One of the places chosen for the production in Spain was the Canary Islands, because here the insects had the right climate conditions.

It is not clear when the cochineal arrive on the Canary Island. There are different opinions by different authors. I will refer to the year 1825 were Lieutenant Juan Megliriony and a surgery professor named Don Santiago de la Cruz presented a article about cochineal ("Memoria sobre el cultivo del nopal y cría de la cochinilla de América para uso de los labradores canarios") to the Economy Society of Tenerife (Sociedad Económica de Tenerife) which informed the Spanish Government of the great opportunity for the Canary Island in the production of cochineal. Twenty years later a second report (“Apuntaciones sobre el cultivo de la cochinilla en Canarias”) was published by Don Manuel de Ossuna y Savinón, refering how the cactus have to be plant properly.

It was not easy to convince the farmers to change their agriculture to cochineal because they first saw a plague in this unknown insect but wine production had entered a crisis a few years earlier and then they realized that the cochineal was the perfect substitute.

THE RISE AND PEAK

With this new agriculture the Canary Islands face a golden age, which included all social classes. Nearly all the fields on the Islands were converted to the cochineal production (Picture 5) by planting the prickle pear cactus, even the tomato fields because of the high price for the dye, which were demanded all over Europe for coloring clothes. The dye of the cochineal was more resistant than other dyes used at this time and the production process was less intensive.

But not only was the ideal climate a reason for the Expansion. Also the abolition of British protection scheme, establishment of free ports and the use of fertilizers, among other things play an important role. The main export destinations were the Spanish Peninsula, Great Britain and France but also they exported the dye to Morocco, Algeria, Gibraltar, the Netherlands and the United States.

The first export rates from the Canary Island were mentioned in 1832 with 12 tons, they raised it to 90 in 1844. Six years late the rate quadruple to 400 tons, which was worth about 16.000.000 reales. However, at this time, especially Mexico and Honduras retain supremacy, not only in terms of quality but also quantity.

The peak on the Canary Island was reached with 6.000 tons in 1870. The half of it was produced in Gran Canaria, the other half on the other islands. Because of a plague in South America Canary Islands convert in the decade of the 70ies to the biggest exporter of dry cochineal.

THE DECLINE

Like the sugar and wine production before, also the cochineal production was about to descent. But this time, because of the high exporting rates, the fall was even harder. The main reason was the invention of aniline color presented on the EXPO 1852 in London which is a synthetic substitute. The price for canary cochineal fell and a lot of the farmers were facing their ruin. They tried to return to their traditional agriculture, but the results were not quite satisfactory.

CURRENT SITUATION

The production of cochineal nearly disappeared. But there are few areas in Lanzarote (the villages of Guatiza y Mala) left were cochineal is still produced. They are not meant to compete on the world market, because countries like Peru (which is the market leader) can produce for 14-17 US$/kilo. To be rentable for the Canary Island the price must be at 60 Euros/kilo. So the production in Lanzarote is more for traditional reasons, because the fields of cacti are seen as a special kind of landscape. Because of price variation in the last decades it’s difficult for the farmers to calculate the potential profit of their business (Graph 1) There are 250 harvesters left in Lanzarote, who organized in Cooperation. They sell the cochineal in small units of 15 grams for one euro. In 2004 they were selling about 7.000 kilos.

In Gran Canaria there a few places left, where cochineal was planted and they are conserved by the Ethnographic and Canaries Handcraft Foundation FEDAC (Fundación para la Etnografía y el Desarrollo de la Artesanía Canaria).

At the field trip it was possible to enter a Tunera-Plantation in Lomo los Azules, a small village about 2.5 km west from El Tablero (Picture 8). But a man told us, they are using the cacti no more for the cochineal production, but to sell the cactus fruit (which is quite tasty) on the local markets.

CONCLUSION

The cochineal production played a very important role in the history of the Canary Island. But nowadays only few plantations remain on the islands. The biggest problem for the farmers is the strong price variety, which makes it difficult for them to foresee the profitability for their business. But maybe, with the “Ecologic-Boom” and the rising demand for natural food additives, the demand for cochineal, and therefore the price, will rise again which may would be a chance for the Canary Islands to start the export for cochineal again, as they did in the XIX Century.

3. TOMATO AND THE CANARY ISLANDS

HISTORY OF TOMATO

The tomato has always been a very important crop for the Canary Islands. In the beginning it was used in local food supply, but later it became an important crop for export. At the end of the 19^th century, the English company FYFEES Ltd, which was the first export company before First World War, started exporting tomatoes to Great Britain. After that, many other companies such as Mac Garva and La Repp were established in Canary Islands. During the Spanish civil war the production of tomato increased in order to be sent to Spain. In that period food was scarce in Spain, and Canary tomato represented an important nutrient for Spanish population. After the Spanish civil war, some local companies were established in order to control the tomato production. Nowadays, tomatoes are no longer exported to Spain because of large tomato plantations within Iberian Peninsula. On the contrary, main tomato exportation destinations are England and the Netherlands, especially the Rotterdam port. From there, tomatoes are being distributed all over Europe.

Even so, the tomato remains an important crop in the Canary agriculture. With around 15 % tomato is in the second place in Canary agriculture. Today, production is concentrated on 3 islands: Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Fuerteventura.

CONTEMPORARY PROCESSES AND PROBLEMS OF TOMATO PRODUCTION

During the last decades, the production of tomato has reduced. One of the reasons for the decline is definitely agricultural competition which is seriously affecting the Canary exportation characteristics. Morocco, for example, who is one of the most important agricultural competitors, has preferential agreements with the European Union since 1996. Moreover, the price of Moroccan labor force is much lower, which increases the difference in price between Moroccan and Canary products.

Apart from that, there are other problems the tomato production has to face. The Canary society has been experiencing mentality shift. Younger generations as opposed to older generations do not want to work in agriculture anymore, but prefer to be employed in tertiary and quarterly sector. Due to lack of labor force, foreign workers from Latin America (Ecuador, Colombia and Peru), Africa (Morocco, Mauritania) and Eastern European countries (Lithuania, Poland and Romania) are needed

Tomato has always been an important part of the canary society. Firstly, it was uses as local nutrient, and then it became one of the most important export crops in the Canary Islands which has left several impacts in the society which can be seen even in the landscape. Today, tomato production is rapidly decreasing mainly because of European market policies. However, with the growing importance and demand of locally produced food, local farmers have the opportunity to survive and compete with continuously increasing urban and tourism areas

4. BANANA AND THE CANARY ISLANDS

The banana plant which is originally from Asia is a tropical plant and was first introduced in the end of the 19^th century from British in the Canary Islands who also consumed those days 90% of the whole production of the islands. From the Canary Islands it was transported in the 15^th century to America where it became an important food crop for countries situated in the tropical zone and the Caribbean. The type of banana that is growing in the Canary Islands, the Canary banana, is different than the types of bananas from all over the world. Usually they are smaller than the other variations in other countries but sweeter in flavor. The banana tree needs soft temperature, good conditions of unbroken sunshine and large amounts of water which are more or less given on the Archipelago. Good climatic and altitude conditions (lower than 300 meters) as well as the island´s volcanic soil, the Canary banana is raised only in lower parts of the islands (except on Fuerteventura and Lanzarote) because of lack of water.

In the agricultural development of the Canary Islands the monoculture of bananas was imposed after the enforcement of the Bravo Murillo`s law of 1852 concerning the establishment of the free ports. The British were the first who installed their companies like Fyffes and Yeoward and began to import and distribute the Canary bananas all over Europe. The fast increases of the banana plantations in the islands were only possible after the introduction of modern irrigation system and the construction of canals due to the need of large amount of water. The construction of canals in the southern parts of the Canary Islands which are more favorable for the development of crop due to its climate and the particular structure of the soils represented a definitive boost to the growth of the banana sector.

During the development of the 20^th century the Canary banana lost its importance on international markets (mainly French and British market) which led to a change of the trading zone. It was Spain who became the principal market for Canary bananas. This banana trade with Spain was possible only after the Law for Economic and Fiscal Regime of the Canary Islands (Ley de Régimen Económico y Fiscal (REF) de Canarias) in 1972 in which the market of Canary bananas was closed to the international market the Spanish market was exclusively reserved for the Canary bananas. With the entry of Spain into the European Union in 1986, Canary bananas were under some sort of protection against American bananas. With the Evaluation of the common organization of the market (COM) in bananas which aims to provide a critical analysis of the common organization of the market in bananas and its implementations since 1993, this protection of the Spanish market has been removed because of the pressure of large multinational groups trading with bananas from Central America.

However the World Trade Organization meant to improve the incomes of the banana farmers and the banana production entered a new phase in which criteria of competitiveness and quality dominated. The high expectations of banana production in 2000 have been declining as the European Union market has been opening its borders to new competitors. American banana competition, from countries where labor cost is much lower than in the Canary Islands placed the banana production in a difficult situation of instability in the coming years.

Since the middle of the 20^th century Spain is the principal market of the Canary bananas followed by the local market and foreign countries. Due to the regulations of the European Union the Canary bananas couldn´t be exported because of their size. In 2007 there have been 9564 ha of surface cultivated with bananas on the Canary Islands. Generally those banana plantations in the Island were covered with plastic greenhouses, walls and protections to cover the banana trees from wind and sand; a work of numerous local banana farmers. According to the statistics of the Association of the Organization and Production of Canary Bananas in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Asociación de Organizaciones de Productores de Plátano de Canarias - ASPROCAN) in 2009 approximately 92 % of the bananas was consumed in Spain, only 7.5 % were supplied to local consumption and 0.5 % was exported in other countries of the European Union.

For a long time the banana production was considered as the most important cultivation and protagonist of the economic growth of the Archipelago regarding job supply and profit. In spite of the obvious decline today more than 35.000 people of the islands work in direct and indirect jobs in all the phases of its production from the harvest and harvesting to packaging and distribution and so its cultivation is still a fundamental part of the economy. As far as production, the banana is the first cultivation of the islands and its importance in the agricultural production of the Canary Islands is about 22 %.

With organic banana cultivations the Canary Islands could link tourism with good quality food and local products. The recent trend is that local products are more and more demanded by tourists. For example the consumer habits of German tourists could be seen as a future target. The trend of organic food in Germany is increasing during the last few years. Many health-food stores, many outdoor markets and even supermarkets have organically grown products. Also German hotels and restaurants provide organic food for their guests. This could be also introduced in the Canary Islands. Therefore a highly standard accommodation supplying local organic food would give the chance to tourists to experience authentic and unique products from the Canary Islands. This would automatically increase not only the demand of Canary bananas but also the demand of other local crops.

5. RURAL TOURISM IN CANARY ISLANDS

For the last 30 years Canary Islands have been an important tourism destination. Tourism development has left a huge impact on the economy, social structure and environment in the whole island. It has been predominantly focused on coastal areas, however, with change in mentality and progress in environmental awareness, canary countryside is becoming more and more an important tourism destination.

Continuous volcanic activity created unique landscape of quite uncommon sceneries. The uniqueness of the island’s environment culminated in an establishment of many natural parks like Tamadaba Natural Park and Teide Natural Park or rural parks such as Neblo Rural Park in Gran Canaria. These protected areas were formed to preserve equally both abiotic and biotic elements of a region.

Diverse landscape allows numerous outdoor activities such as mountain biking, trekking, climbing and observing nature. In addition to diverse landscape, Canaries boast a significant historical legacy which is an important element of rural tourism development. Interior of the islands is dotted with many archaeological sites which show how the island’s ancient inhabitants (the Canarians) lived. One of the most distinctive characteristics are traditional dwellings which are called Casas-cuevas. These caves were excavated out of volcanic rocks where original inhabitants lived and where they kept their products. Furthermore, tourists can visit picturesque villages with local markets and observe aboriginal customs that are shown at numerous festivals.

In addition, Canary Islands are worldwide known for their gastronomy that has been elaborated along several centuries with excellent raw materials such as meat, fish, fruits and vegetables combined in original and recipes offered to the visitors. The latter may taste many traditional dishes such as famous "Papas Arrugadas" (small potatoes boiled in their jackets), "Ropa Vieja" (type of casserole) or "Carajacas" (filleted liver), “Fish Soup”,“ Salmorejo Rabbit”, Bienmesabe” (very sweet almond paste), “Yolk Mass” and gofio (toasted and ground cereal meal.

GEOGRAPHY OF RURAL TOURISM

By becoming an interesting tourist destination, Canary countryside has experienced many changes. Tourist activities have an important impact on the rural areas, which causes numerous positive and negative consequences. Due to the increase in tourism interest, a network of local hotels, lodging and restaurants has been established. Not only old houses were restored but the availability of jobs in tourist sector is an important factor for the local economy and population. Newly established jobs diminish both daily and permanent migration to the coast and urban agglomerations. Moreover, local traditions, customs and knowledge are preserved which consequently means they are passed to younger generations. Good examples of this are wine routes, traditional festivals and local markets. The latter indicate and important role of tourism in many economic sectors. Local farmers can sell their local products which give them additional earnings. Farms can use their domesticated animals (horses) for visitors. Shops with local products are created. Because of tourism, infrastructure is renovated. However, rural tourism, especially massive and intensified, can generate certain problems. Firstly, even if the infrastructure is well-maintained, rural areas are usually less accessible and are without efficient public means of transport. This causes a huge impact on the environment due to increased private transportation. Secondly, as opposed to agriculture local inhabitants may consider tourism as a better option that brings them more money. This basically means that after some time, agricultural activities are entirely replaced by tourism infrastructure and local community is dependent only on income from tourism. Natural and cultural parks can experience harsh impacts due to increase in visitors and transport.

The future of rural areas in the Canary Island is uncertain. Countryside is rapidly changing, mainly because of the tourism which is becoming an influential activity also in the hinterlands. One possibility that could generate future tourism development and prosperity of rural areas are European programs that encourage sustainable rural activities (tourism). The most known “financial injection” is LEADER program, which supports a wide range of activities in the countryside.

6. PROBLEMATIC AND OPPORTUNITIES OF RURAL AREAS

• Problematic:
• Water management. Due to scarcity distribution the water management in the Canary Islands has always been one of the most important activities and the importance of the water can be seen in the landscape (canals, reservoir, drainage systems…) Traditionally, this culture of the water had managed to provide water for the whole uses in the islands, but now the changes in economy and in land uses are causing serious problems in water management. During the 20^th century the urban and touristic development increased their necessities, so the water that had been used commonly to irrigate the crops started to cover this demand. Some of the consequences of this demand were the exhaustion of the underground water and the massive decreasing of the agriculture profitability. This is the situation that explains the actual model in which appears the desalted water as a replacement of the traditional one. It’s true that we look at it as a self-sufficiency model, but its needs of energy don’t say the same. And what’s more, there are new uses, like the golf courts, which are increasing these needs without create one sustainable solution for the problematic of water.
• Changes in the land uses. The shortage of water is not the only problem that affects the rural areas in Canary Island. Parallel to this process we can also include the radical change of uses that signified the urban development. The need of space near the coast, especially where the pressure of tourism has been more important, made the farmers leave the crops with the idea of earn much money in the new sector and also intended to sell their not really profitable crops. This situation mainly caused for example the abandon of important productive areas in the southern midlands of Gran Canaria and this wouldn’t be a real problem if there weren’t some problems associated to this process, like erosion, landslides, high-water…
• Self-sufficiency. As a result of the previous problems it’s also a problem their effects over the self-sufficiency of the Canary Islands, which is decreasing, meanwhile the dependence of external markets are increasing, not really good news for any island. This information is included into “rural” because traditionally, these areas have provided the local market with basic goods, but not nowadays, when the products come from other markets, damaging the local system and get weak it.

• Developing and diversifying in the rural economy: in this globalized world where economy is almost all economic development turn really important for people. That’s the reason of why we need to talk about the future of the sectors that domain –or will domain- the economy of rural areas in Canary Islands. An analysis of future that started with previous topics like rural tourism or new perspectives for the growing of cochineal.

But before this short analysis it’s important to know why the rural system of the Canary Islands needs to change and diversify, an opinion that wasn’t born in rural researchers’ mind. This idea was born in canary people’s mind and was the most repeated when we interviewed somebody the situation of the rural economy, we have had a really good example in tomato.

So, if the opportunities of keep the system are decreasing, why they don’t change this system? It’s very easy to answer this question, this world it’s all for almost of them and it’s the only thing that they have. They want to still doing what they has been doing their whole life and they don’t care if they have to change a lot.

Now, there are some examples of different ways of diversifying and developing that locals are using to keep the system and adapt to new times.

• Non-technological innovation in agriculture: Hortabell’s project. A farmer is trying to develop a new way of business. He wants to offer a new model of farm in which the customers can collect the products by themselves.
  The enterprise that he manages –and also other local producers- has suffered some crisis because neither he nor other farmers could compete with external producers, like South-America or Morocco, in the cherry’s tomato’s or ^4th range’s market. This is an interesting and not very common project in which we can observe how the necessity makes the rural people thinks about and try to have future.
• Technological innovation in agriculture: ICIA (CIAR) (Canary Institute of Agricultural Research). Researching Station of Horticulture of Santa Lucía de Tirajana. This institute was born to work with the local horticultural farmers, especially tomato’s producers, although it also provides social support, working as a vocational college for unemployment people. The main work done in this Researching Station is linked to greenhouse tomato production and the most modern farming techniques that can be used in this kind production nowadays. In this case we’re talking about how the local administration tries to help producers to improve their ability to compete with external rivals, although there are some totally contrary policies.
• Ecological agriculture: not only as a kind of economic exploitation which respect of the environment, also as a way of economic development focused on the production of high-quality and helps to preserve the traditions. This is a very important topic to develop in the Canary Islands because the local primary sector, which was the most important in the region during decades, has decreased it weight in favor of the tertiary sector, especially the pressure of tourism, and both, tourism and primary sector, could develop together a strong agriculture sector. Although there are several problems that difficult these activities, like, for example, the low level of organization, and the high number of mini-producers, the government of the islands recognized in the ecological agriculture an opportunity to change the system that exist into a more sustainable model which, besides improving the quality of the production can also reduce the dependence of this sector from the government assistances and can help in several problems like unemployment, rural development, biodiversity conservation…

• Other interesting topics for rural world: Besides agriculture or tourism there are several topics to develop in rural areas with the idea of preserving, like the ecological agriculture, the heritage that exist in these areas, for example the social function of some activities, which support education and professional training programs meanwhile the people who participate in these programs learn a lot about the traditions of the rural areas they or the products that they spend are coming from, or also helping handicap people. And although is not a big opportunity to rural people it’s turning a very common activity to rent rural spaces and buildings, not exactly as touristic accommodation, more as places prepared to celebrate meetings and celebrations, like weddings, a very extended activity in the whole country.

But maybe the most curious way to develop in rural areas that is not necessary an economical way is the subsistence agriculture. This model of production, which had domain traditionally the rural economy, lost it importance when others more profitable economic sectors appeared in the Canary Islands. But nowadays this model of production has returned important in some areas in the region. People who are retired and especially who are unemployed have discovered that not all is lost and the subsistence agriculture it’s a good way of surviving.

SOCIAL GROUP, FINAL REPORT

ERASMUS INTENSIVE PROGRAMME 2011

EUROPEAN ISLANDS: PERSPECTIVES FOR DEVELOPMENT. CANARY ISLANDS.

Anna Oberrauch, Nora-Csilla Vicsai, Aljaz Celarc, Carlos Alves, Jaime Jover Báez

Introduction

Social geography is studying the interaction of groups and communities in the space. In that sense, we were aware of Mogán particular spatial structure, with many disperse old villages and a recent urban development in the coast. In the last ten years, the population of Mogan municipality has more than double. The tourism development, lowers taxes and the climate, are the major reasons to explain this exponential increased.

That is why we came there to study it, we were interested in the relationship between the old town, the hinterland, and the coast; and once we came we found out this particular spatial pattern is also showing a particular social structure.

Source: Wikipedia.

Mogán is one the largest municipality in Gran Canaria. It is located in southeast face of the island. Its relief is abrupt, with many cliffs, ravines and valleys, which is also shaping a peculiar landscape. Its large municipality means we find twenty-five population entities; so their inhabitants are really dispersed. Within them, we are focusing on three main cases: Mogán’s old town in the hinterland and Puerto de Mogán and Arguineguín, in the coast. Either way, we also find other important nodes, especially in the coast, like Taurito, Patalavaca or Puerto Rico.

Pictures taken by the authors in the field work carried out from 25^th to 29^th April 2011. Mogán’s hinterland.

History background

Nowadays, nobody have shore about this, but old people say that there is one relationship between the name Mogán and one typical Canarian flower “Mocan”. The first occupation of Mogán was in the seventeen century, and then, all the population received a parcel of soil to use, given by the Canarian Government. This politic was not completed succeed, because the difficulties with cliffs and the valleys, to bring water to the most important towns.

So, the major part of the population leaved their proprieties to search better opportunities in the north face of the island.

At the beginning of the 20^th century, the south of the island was not populated. It changed, when the Conde de La Vega Grande understood the potential touristic of the area, and started one process of urbanization which employed lots of population.

The touristic development of Mogán started thus in the mid 60s, as well as the development of its neighbour municipality, San Bartolomé de Tirajana. Despite this, its growth was slower and it was not till the 70s when a proper tourism development began. Before that, Mogán’s society was rural, dedicated to agriculture (tomato, potatoes) and fishing in the coast. Society was thus self-supplying; they grew and fished everything they needed for living. Its location helped Mogán not to have a proper tourism development since the 70s, which was decreased due to the Oil Crisis in 1973, and was undertaken again in the 80s. Spain joining the EU was a primary fact that made Mogán start their real tourism growth what brought us to the present situation, highlighting the first decade of the 21^st century when the municipality has almost doubled its population, as the next table shows:

Source: Mogán’s Master Plan (provisionally adopted in October 2010). Page 42 of the Information Memory.

Transformations

Economic transformation due to tourism started later than in other parts of the island, as we have said. Anyway, it had an exponential growth, so at the beginning it was not as fast as it has been in the last decade of the 20^th century and first of 21^st century, as we have just said.

At this time transformation of traditional society started. Tourism growth, usually out of control because of the harshness of Spanish democracy, made Mogán walked through an agriculture and fishing activity to a tourism industry which employees most of the population. Its dependency is enormous, so that society has also changed in that sense, because their standard of living was positively changed too. Local people see tourism as their main way of life, and this has also brought a special society where almost the half of the population is immigrant, are foreigners.

So, changes in the economy introduced new social patterns, and with them new social groups and issues. The most obvious one are immigrants, due to processes triggered by tourism. Why they are massively coming and how they are organizing as well as how much is their integration within Mogán traditional-shifted by tourism society are our main goals.

Source: Instituo Canario de Estadística. Graphic elaborated by the authors.

Mogán’s studying cases

In the following lines we are going to study two main cases in a diversity –due to the almost half of immigrants- community like Mogán’s one. Thus we are interested in the role of social-cultural clubs and their importance for connecting that particular community.

First case: Mogan’s social-cultural club Tahona

Tahona social-cultural club was founded in 1987, with the support of the municipality and the Island government, which gave money for construction. The club is located in the centre of town, opposite to the municipality building. Just in front of the club’s building is a small park, where people can gather. The club itself is responsible for the maintenance of the building, which is in the possession of the municipality of Mogan. In the building there is an office, a storage room and a main hall, where the club organises it’s events.

The club today counts 600 members, 300 of which are form the city of Mogan. Everyone in Mogan can attend the club’s activities, although some activities are just for members, who are paying annually from 13 to 16 euros. Most of the activities are related to folklore dances and theatre, which are usually presented once a year. The most important local holyday in Mogan is San Antonio’s day on 13. June. In the week of celebrations The Tahona club plays one of the leading roles.

The club was founded with a goal to improve social life in the community. Before the establishment there was no proper place for locals to gather. At the very beginning the main goals was to establish help for elderly people and preserve the traditions. Even though the role of the club in the society and society itself has changed a lot, but the main goals of the club has remained. Today’s organisation of the club is much better than in the past.

The role of the Tahona club can easily be understood if we study the socio-economic development in the Mogan area in the past. Before the introduction of tourism in late 70’s there was no need for a club, because most of the population lived the traditional lifestyle. For instance, there was no need to preserve the customs and to take care of the elderly people, because traditionally elderly people were taken care of by families. When tourism started, the society adapted to the new way of life, which drastically changed the social relations within the community. Young people were searching for jobs in tourism, while the older people were still farming in the traditional way. Because of the disintegration of the family there was a need to help the elder people, ant this is the main objective of the club.

Another objective was, to establish a place where people could meet. Establishing of a club was a reaction to the fact that more and more immigrants came to the island. The native islanders feared to loose their identity and the club helped to keep local identity. In Mogan and Puerto de Mogan there was a population boom, because large numbers of Europeans from Scandinavia, Britain and Central Europe, who were searching for second home and quite a few of them were looking for work in tourism. Bedside’s that there was also a large number of emigrants from Africa and South America to look for a job and settle on the island. With all these new cultures coming in the community of Mogan tried to preserve their customs and it’s identity. The club is achieving this with supporting the folklore, the handicrafts and art activities. For the Europeans local customs were always interesting to look at. It is interesting to know that 30 members of the social club of Mogan are foreigners, coming from Norway, England, Sweden, France, Morocco and even Brazil! We were told that one of the most active members of the club is a Norwegian.

For newcomers it’s easy to integrate in the local community, if they are involved in the club. And for the native members is interesting to get to know other cultures. With that the Tahona club has a leading role in the integration of newcomers in the local community.

First picture taken by the authors in the field work carried out from 25^th to 29^th April 2011. Second one, taken the 30^th April in the moment of our presentation, with the Town Hall in the background.

An important issue in the club’s function is the cooperation with other clubs. For example the Tahona club is cooperating with the Mogan Bonito club, which tries to stop the destruction of the cultural landscape by keeping the traditional houses. A strong cooperation is also exists with the Norwegian club. From a social point of view the quality of life is improved if the newcomers have a chance to meet locals and other nationalities ant to take part in their social events. With that, they don’t just get to know each other, but they can also relate in different ways: there might appear job opportunities or the chance to establish new businesses might appear. With a chance to meet new people and have a larger social network one’s own economic status can improve a lot.

The case study of the Tahona club shows how the community reacted to the changes that came about with emergence of tourism. The whole community quickly adjusted to the new situation, and thereby created created a good social environment for the integration of immigrants. We got the feeling that in this part of Gran Canaria the locals and the immigrants respect each other and get along quite well.

Norwegian society in Arguineguín

In the town of Arguineguín Norwegian immigrants are very well organized and the whole community is functioning as a social village, a “Little Norway” on the island of Gran Canaria. Norwegians started to come here 30 years ago.

The official population statistics do not give the real figures for immigrants, because a good many of them are not registered.

The real figures, we were told, are much higher. It is estimated that in the whole Mogán municipality the Norwegian community consists of 9.000 people. Mogán municipality consists of the old Mogán itself, Puerto de Mogán, Puerto Rico, Aruineguín and some other touristic settlements. So the Norwegians represent by far the largest foreign community in this part of the island.

Among the Norwegian population, there are quite of few, let’s call them “snow-birds”. These are residents, that escape the Skandinavian frostbelt in order to enjoy an outdoor-orientated lifestyle in the most pleasant climate of the Canary islands. So they only stay here for half a year, from mid-October till mid-April.

As we mentioned before, the main reason for coming to Aruineguín is primarily the climate. With this kind of climate all sorts of health problems, such as asthma, rheumatism and allergies, do not cause the same negative effects than back in Norway, so people feel much more comfortable to live here than back home.

According to the World Health Organisation, or should we say the tourist board of Gran Canaria, the southern coastline between Playa del Inglés and Playa the Mogán has, from a bioclimatic view, the third best climate of the world. But then we do not know where the two best places can be found.

The Norwegian community consists of all age groups: families with and without children and elderly people.

Most children are here because of health reasons. The Norwegian state even supports parents that decide to move to Gran Canaria so that their children do not have to suffer because of their chronic deseases.

For these children the Norwegian community even established a private elementary and secondary school that provides a good education for about 230 students.

Also the school is supported by the Norwegian government. The school is purely dedicated to Norwegian students, because who else will understand Norwegian.

We were told, that quite a few middle-aged Norwegians spread their roots in the local business world. They are either employed in the tourist industry or in the local hospital, or they even run their own businesses. We heard that quite a lot of Norwegian capital was invested here, mainly in hotels. Some of these hotels are run on a time-sharing basis.

The majority of the Norwegian community, however, consists of elderly people that either rent a place or buy a flat or even a house. As Norwegians are not short of money, they pay, we were said, almost any price. So rents and prices for real estate property are still sky-rocking in this part of the island. This is quite different to other parts of Spain, for instance the Costa del Sol, where the economic crises can be felt severely and prices in the last 3 years dropped by more than 1/3. Real estate property there often cannot be sold and stays unoccupied.

The Norwegian diaspora runs their own church, publishes a monthly paper, the Dag & Natt, and operates their own club.

The church is a Lutheran church, a special Lutheran church, which is called “Syomannskirken” (The church of the seamen). This branch of Lutheran church was founded in 1864. It can be found worldwide, because Norway is one of the most important seafaring nations. The “Syomannskirken” supports lonely seamen that otherwise might get drunk or do other silly things

Pictures taken by the authors in the field work carried out from 25^th to 29^th April 2011.

The Lutheran “Syomannskirken” does not only serve seamen, but also stranded tourists. It is a meeting place for all the Norwegian community. During the high season, that is the winter time, church services are held, interestingly enough, in the local catholic church. During the summer, when the snow-birds have gone home, services are held here.

The Norwegian religious community in Arguineguín is one of the largest religious ethnic communities of the island. There are also the Swedes, the Germans and the British that run their own church.

Another tool to hold the Norwegian community together is the monthly published Dag & Natt (day and night) newspaper. Also the Swedes, the Germans and the British run their own ethnic newspaper.

Besides the church and the newspaper we also find the Norwegian club, the “Norske Klubben”, which was found in 1989. The club has presently more than 1000 members, most of them are of course Norwegians, but there are also a few Spanish members, mainly married to a Norwegian spouses, and some members are from other nationalities. Most of the members are elderly people. The club house is a meeting place, has a library, a cafeteria and it organizes all sorts of other activities, such as hiking, Spanish courses, needle work and sometimes they go sightseeing on the neighbouring islands. The annual fee is 40€. During the winter season the club also publishes a monthly journal, the “Klubbnytt” (Club News).

On the one hand the church and the club are very much inward orientated, their members stick together and speak Norwegian as most Norwegians don´t speak Spanish. On the other hand both institutiones are also outward orientated, that is to say, they are involved in the Spanish community. The church supports the poor and patients in the hospital and the club sometimes co-organizes activities together with Spanish local clubs, such as the social cultural club in Mogán, the “Tahona” – club, where we had our first stop today. Another example of inter-ethnic collaboration is the Norwegian-Spanish-Brassband. The Norwegians and Spanish even play football together.

Pictures taken by the authors in the field work carried out from 25^th to 29^th April 2011. Arguineguín’s beach viewed from the Norwegian church.

We were told that besides the Norwegians, also the Swedes and the Fins form their own strong community on Gran Canaria, but they also very strongly work together on a Scandinavian basis. The Danish do not take part in that, they consider themselves, being “Europeans”.

Intermarriages between Norwegians and Spanish are of course another form of inter-ethnic activity. The children of these inter-ethnic couples are, however, mainly Spanish orientated.

It is worth saying that some Norwegians deliberately are not part of the Norwegian community. They do not want to be socially controlled and they believe that sticking with the Norwegians hinder them to get in contact with the Spanish.

Finally it´s interesting that neither the Skandinavian communities nor the Germans and British have any political representation in the local or regional governments, diffrent to, let´s say, Mallorca, where ethnic groups are strongly involved in local politics.

Landscape: social identification

This part is written as a linker for all ideas already mentioned. Mogán’s particular social structure shaped mainly because of tourism growth allows us to identify other social issues, these ones also related to local policy, as it is landscape. We think we can summarize many social, as well as economical and political processes under this concept, especially in such a peculiar community.

Cosgrove and Daniels wrote (1992): “A landscape is a cultural image, a pictorial way of representing, structuring or symbolising surroundings”. Landscape is hence totalizing all relationships in one territory given. It contains and comprehends the history of a place through its image, subjectively composed by the perspectives of every citizen. That is why landscape is usually defined as a social construction. It is this special idea, also regarding to the inherited factor, which makes landscape be named as immaterial heritage. Since in essence it is heritage, it is not refuted nowadays the necessity of conservation, due to it is shaping the place where people live and have lived during centuries, so it is a live image of cultural development. At the same time, landscape does not belong to none, despite local inhabitants are identified with it, because it remains them their home, that place where they were born and where they come from. However, this feeling is difficult to perceive, especially when money is playing an important role. Most likely that feeling –called by us in the presentation as “belonging feeling”- we are referring to appears when people is abroad, when people miss their place so they remember it nostalgically. But it is the concept of identification here described, which makes landscape worth or even necessary to be first of all, protected and conserved.

If landscape is local identification, is a social construction, we would like thus to know what it does mean in Mogán. So we will focus on answering questions like how Mogán –in all its diversity- is seeing landscape, in order to crumble the relationships shaped; and how is society taking care of it. As a consequence, we will see how the City Council, how local policy is treating it –thinking what professor Parreño told us about the Tourist Act from 2003, which was especially sensitive with landscape-.

We have seen the high diversity and peculiar structure of Mogán’s society (almost half of the population is foreign –like the Norwegian community-, living in many coastal resorts, also thanks to the large municipality where we are, with many towns and villages…). Despite this, there is none group or association aimed to preserve and confront landscape issues in Mogán, which can be easily seen in the next picture. Of course, this is not to say all the issues here are related to the rapid tourism development in the latter years.

Pictures taken by the authors in the field work carried out from 25^th to 29^th April 2011. Coast between Taurito and Puerto Rico.

The single groups who could be somehow interested in landscape we have found, are the ecological and environmental association of “Ecologistas en Acción”, working for the whole island –so therefore less powerful in local scopes-, and the local club called “Mogán Bonito”, whom we have already talked about. Related to this, we should mention how this latter club is not just formed by Spanish or better, local members, but also foreigners.

Our hypothesis is consequently that Mogán’s inhabitants are not taking care of their landscape. And for setting this, we are underpinned in three consecutive facts:

1.Landscape as a social construction is a contemporary view, which has not much more than ten years old. Of course, theories started before, but in terms of social –and therefore political- implementation, the process is eventually modern.

2.As a consequence, the political concerned about landscape in Spain and more accurately in the Canary Islands (because the regions have the powers in this topic) is quite new, as well as the mentioned implementation in local policy, especially in urbanism Master Plans.

3.Tourism is the main activity on that area, its growth has been increasing year per year. Not even the crisis which has affected other historic tourist resorts –like Costa del Sol or even the brother island of Tenerife- has been suffered in Mogán, concretely around Arguineguín and linked to the Norwegian community we talked about. So, the growth has made they reach a situation in which tourism is the main and almost the exclusive industry.

All this has guided Mogán to a very particular situation, easily noticed by us in the interviews we have been carrying out. Tourism is seen as the main source of income, no matter what. Tourism is so important, that is present in every decision. In that sense, we may mention the politics of profit, referring to the fact that put economy in a preference situation, when economy is the only matter to attend. And, normally –in other areas-, relating to tourism, we should be saying how this politic of profit cannot be totally developed because of society, citizens and groups interested in remark the disadvantages of that policy, like the one which affects to landscape. Problem here is the position of tourism in Mogán’s reality, again as the main and most endurable source of money, which shapes a society unidentified with its natural and inherited landscape. For Mogán’s people, landscape is a resource, and as so, it is just to be exploited. Landscape then means hotels, resorts and tourism infrastructure. There are no almost beauty or texture patterns, the identification with landscape is done in terms of economy, in terms of tourism, employment and thus money and richness.

That particular situation is extremely interesting to us. With their coastal mass urbanism policy they are occupying their natural cliff coastline and consequently increasing their standard of living, earning cash. But what they are not doing its preserving their social basis foundations, those values like landscape which affects and have affected to their ancients from the way they behave to the way they think.

To put it forward in other terms. Urbanism as a policy is public function looking after citizens and the territory where they live, in a broad sense. It has to look for the general interest; it has to take care of social issues, within we consider landscape. But, if society is not even interested in that –as we have seen, there are barely a few people, like the ones working for “Mogán Bonito”-, politicians can do whatever they want; and it is hard to believe that in the process society is taking any advantage. What we are saying is despite, in theory, the City Council and its territory following that policy is richer in economic terms; in social terms is not that rich, because it is sentencing its natural resources at the same time. The real benefits –if we understand benefits not just in economic view, but also in general: considering sustainability as the model to achieve the richest situation, including culture output- are being obtained by the ones who built these big resorts without thinking on nature or landscape, and the ones who allow them, the town hall. In this capitalism neoliberal economy we live in, markets control decision-making. In the case of Mogán, they are usually tourism companies, which play the role of lobbies with people in charge, with municipality power. For instance, the best example is the corruption case of “Anfi-Tauro Golf & Luxury Resort”. In 2007, actual major was arrested and accused by helping the Norwegian entrepreneur Björn Lyng to carry out the construction of 7.500 beds resort including a golf course. The case, briefly, consisted in the sold of lands from the Norwegian business man to the City Council, and vice versa. The problem was the lands sold by the City Council where much more valuable, especially compared to the Norwegian entrepreneur lands, because these were about to be expropriated in order to build the new south Gran Canaria motorway (sources: Digital news from El País and El Mundo, -links attached at the bottom-)

Final reflexions

At the end of our research we were able to establish connections between our research goals and connect facts together in one single image about reasons for uneven distribution of social groups in space and time. Trough socio-economic changes and reasons for globalised processes of migrations, we have been able to show reasons for cooperation among communities.

Socio-economical transformation from domination of primary to tertiary economic sector in area of Mogan’s municipality started later than in Maspalomas and surrounding areas, but even though was rapid. Transformation had different affects then in other resorts in surrounding area, because of Mogan’s valley previous land use and economic activities, which held communities together in a system. Inflow of capital and immigrants changed the look of landscape and social structures drastically.

Our two case studies are showing in what way collaboration with and within social groups is important. Firstly we were dealing with consequences of transformation in previously existing Mogan’s community. In rapidly changing society there was a need to preserve community. They had achieved this within a socio-cultural club Tahona. Club’s connections were also a point of interest for immigrants, who joined the club. That helped to integrate them in society lot easier. One more important underline: if a pre-existing society wouldn’t be strongly connected, probably the integration of immigrants would be more difficult and problematic.

In the case of The Norwegian club the main goal is to keep community together in the foreign state. They are very successful in achieving, although it is problematic because of possibility that members of Norwegian community are not integrating with locals, and can satisfy all their needs inside community itself. We have noticed attempts for collaboration between clubs in culture and charity. Collaboration with and within clubs could be a good chance for growth of social capital in the municipality of Mogan.

In that sense, and linking with the last part studied, it has also to be mentioned the lack of sensitiveness with landscape. The problem comes from the peculiar development we are dealing with, based just on tourism, which has shaped the special social structure in which landscape is only seen by society –and by their deputies, their politicians- as a resource. Urbanism is then a political instrument used to foster this tourism. Nowadays, tourism is so important in Mogán’s society that is not seen as a real threat to their territory, because is literally feeding them. Anyway, we believe that if there were a strong and rooted economic diversity shaping a different social structure –less dependency on tourism- which higher culture, we would not be focusing on that. It is a real pity how the lack of environmental or even better, territory culture is helping to change in a bad way the place where they live. Albeit, is also logical in a society that suffered a rapid shift from agriculture and fishing to tourism (so they walked from poverty to richness straight, and in less than thirty years). But not everything is going that wrong. The immigrants who came due to tourism are integrating in society as we have seen, so they are bringing their more respectful sight with culture, including landscape, playing an important role in clubs like “Mogán Bonito”, located in Playa de Mogán and in which there is a large number of foreign members.

Pictures taken by the authors in the field work carried out from 25^th to 29^th April 2011. Puerto or Playa de Mogán.

It was in the heart of this group where a popular initiative was launched in order to save one of the last valleys in the municipality of Mogán, Veneguera ravine. We think this fact was a key factor, because it is showing how not just Mogán, but Gran Canaria society was fed up of their stamping ground due to tourism policy. The initiative achieved to collect all signs required by legislation to raise the case to the regional Parliament of the Canary Islands, where the Veneguera’s resort project –which, by the way, was going to be built by “Banesto”, one of Spanish’s top banks- was stopped. Nowadays they valley remains a rural area, with –also worth to be mentioned- a difficult access to its beach.

Pictures taken by the authors in the field work carried out from 25^th to 29^th April 2011. Veneguera’s valley and beach.

To end with this topic, we might also mention a flagrant contradiction seen in the leaflet from the Government of Canarias. In them is shown how to behave if there is any unexpected meteorological phenomenon, like heavy rain in a short period of time. Thus they encourage people to maintain calm and act in some particular way. What they are not saying is that because of the politic of profit ongoing: the urbanism policy of gaining as much as it is possible; they are creating an impact that may be dangerous when one of those phenomena we mentioned appear, assuming natural hazards, like floods.

Pictures taken by the authors in the field work carried out from 25^th to 29^th April 2011. Coast between Puerto Rico and Arguineguín.

Conclusions

Our conclusions are aimed in three aspects, so are written in three related branches:

Firstly, because of rapid change in society there was a need to establish cultural social clubs. These clubs have an important role for integrating people into the community, both for the native and the immigrants. In our opinion, this is important for development.

Secondly, about the Norwegian community, we want to finish with two insights. On the one hand, they try to integrate on the main stream Spanish society. On the other hand, they try to stay among themselves, because many Norwegians do not speak Spanish, so they are segregating themselves spatially and socio-culturally.

Finally, although socio-cultural clubs of Mogán are helping to bring the main stream society and the new comers together, their goal is not yet to preserve important traditional items of cultural landscape and way of life. This is a role, we think, that a socio-cultural club should play, because there is no organized attempt by people of Mogán to put pressure on the local politicians, to preserve their inherited culture.

Annex

Interviews: Mr. José Antonio Rodrígez, president of Club Tahona; Mr. Pedro Rojo, Mogán’s chief architect, Mr. Paco Amas, Mogán’s City Council; priest from the Norwegian Church of the Canary Islands; as well as the principals of the public elementary school of Mogán and Playa de Mogán, and the Norwegian private primary school of Arguineguín. Besides, there were interviewed several random people in Mogán old town, Playa de Mogán and Arguineguín, and all their kind and polite answers helped us to understand their reality and finish this report, to whom therefore we thank very much.

Specific bibliography:

COSGROVE, D. & DANIELS, S. (1992): The iconography of landscape. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Websites consulted:

http://www.mogan.es/

http://ayuntamientodemogan.com/

http://www2.gobiernodecanarias.org/istac/index.jsp

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mog%C3%A1n

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/investigacion/caso/corrupcion/Mogan/alcanza/Gobierno/canario/elpepiesp/20070210elpepinac_5/Tes

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/proyecto/turistico/7500/camas/elpepiesp/20070210elpepinac_4/Tes

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2007/01/23/espana/1169542597.html

http://www.ecologistasenaccion.org/article7227.html

http://es.anfi.com/es/anfi_tauro.htm

http://www.eldia.es/2003-06-03/islas/4-Banesto-rechaza-revelar-cuanto-pide-Gobierno-Veneguera.htm

http://vozgrancanaria.blogia.com/2006/051501-una-permuta-para-veneguera.php

http://www.canariasahora.com/noticia/164024/