The initiative sets in motion a model for the use of the endogenous resources of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, that is, of its four islands. The objective is that these resources are used to maximize the development of the area, sustainable development, that generates quality employment, that allows the coexistence of sustainable economic and cultural practices and that allows synergies to be established between all the components of the system.

The initiative sets in motion a model for the use of the endogenous resources of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, that is, of its four islands. The objective is that these resources are used to maximize the development of the area, sustainable development, that generates quality employment, that allows the coexistence of sustainable economic and cultural practices and that allows synergies to be established between all the components of the system.

The general objective of the project is to promote the sustainable economic development of the Western Canary Islands, through the sustainable use of the island’s endogenous resources, both agri-food and agro-energy as well as environmental and geological resources. To this end, an attempt is made to highlight the use of the islands’ own resources and their use throughout the province’s economic chain; the gastronomic part of local products, environmental values, new volcanological events, the observation of nature or the use of agronomic and forestry resources as generators of electricity and biofuels. The aim is that the inventory of these resources, the proposals on their use and the specialized training for the recipients allow the development of companies or new lines of activity in existing ones.

In this way, it is intended to ensure that the economic pillars of these islands, especially the three smallest, benefit from the use of their own resources and value some of them that have been little used today. It is also intended to alleviate, in part, some of the consequences that the episodes of the summer of 2012 have generated in the image of the islands, the fires in the case of La Palma and Gomera and the appearance of the volcano in El Hierro. The economic, political and social interconnection with Tenerife also makes it advisable to incorporate this island, a nerve centre of communication for both tourists and the islanders themselves in this part of the archipelago.

The recipients will be workers of SMEs, micro-SMEs and the self-employed, especially those who belong to the hospitality, agricultural and livestock sector and tourism sectors.

In this way, it is expected that this project will reach 8,035 workers, of which 210 will receive training. Likewise, the expected results include the use of information on the natural and gastronomic resources of the islands by 150 establishments, the incorporation of active tourism actions in the offer of activities of 30 tourist establishments, the incorporation of products from 30 farmers and ranchers to the hotel network of the islands, encouraging the use of organic agriculture, and finally, the creation of 10 companies or micro-enterprises for the use of environmental resources.