The scapegoat of Tenerife is undoubtedly the municipality of Arico, which receives all the garbage and provides the island with most of its energy.
Let’s finally call a spade a spade: if there’s a municipality on Tenerife that is systematically treated as the island’s underdog, it’s Arico. For decades, this southern, expansive piece of land has been the loyal shoulder on which the rest of the island dumps its waste, generates its energy, and offloads plans that are politically too sensitive elsewhere. And what does Arico get in return? More of the same.
Arico has always played the thankless role of Tenerife’s garbage bin. Everything that smelled, smoldered, leaked, or creaked was sent straight to Arico. Not just like that, but neatly packaged as necessary infrastructure or a project in the public interest. The residents have become accustomed to the landscape systematically changing into a patchwork of waste processing centers, wind farms, solar fields, and industrial zones. Where other municipalities seek their future in flourishing tourism sectors or nature parks, Arico gets… a container park with a view.
But now comes the green sauce. Under the noble banner of sustainability, the Canary government launches the Zonas de Aceleración de Renovables (ZAR). A beautiful acronym that sounds like something between a superhero and a dental procedure, but in reality, it’s a political bypass for planning, participation, and balance. The idea: accelerate renewable energy projects. The practice: build everything where the least resistance is expected. Guess who’s at the top of that list?Exactly: Arico. Because why make it difficult in wealthier, tourist-oriented municipalities when you have a place that already bears a geological scar from decades of planning laziness?
Mayor Olivia Delgado is fed up. And rightly so. In March, the municipal council unanimously spoke out against more wind turbines, more solar panels, more masts, and more bulldozers. Arico cannot be both the garbage dump and the battery of Tenerife, says the head of the municipality. A poignant statement that reveals both her frustration and the absurd contrast between policy ideals and reality. Because while in Santa Cruz, they trumpet about energy transition and ecological progress, Arico has to give up its landscape, birds, agricultural land, and tourism potential. Everything, except a bit of respect.
The irony is painful. Arico says a resounding ‘yes’ to renewable energy, but ‘no’ to an ill-considered, destructive, and unfair model. Renewable should not become an excuse for repeated abuse. The Canary government talks a lot about a ‘just transition,’ but as long as that transition only shifts the burdens to the weakest link, it remains a lie wrapped in pretty words.
And what about the so-called compensation? Here, it’s deafeningly silent. No structural investments in quality of life, no master plan for a sustainable local economy, no fair distribution of benefits and burdens. Only the sound of turbines spinning and trucks coming and going. Arico doesn’t ask for privileges. It only asks for what every community deserves: a livable future, a say in its own fate, and a government that does what it promises.
If the rest of Tenerife truly believes in solidarity and sustainability, then it’s time to also take a piece of the energy pie themselves. Otherwise, the green story is nothing more than a façade or a roof of solar panels above a foundation of injustice. The title of this opinion piece ‘The Scapegoat of Tenerife’ truthfully explains a municipality that has to swallow everything.
Guy Devos © AI Illustration
The Scapegoat of Tenerife ©
More TRIVIA can be read [HERE].
Pixabay © Photography
Observant dolphins around Tenerife ©
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