Análisis Comparativo De Propuestas Para La Ordenación De La Actividad Extractiva De Áridos En La Isla De Tenerife

The island of Tenerife is a territory with numerous protected natural areas and other areas which also deserve environmental protection, due to their ecological and landscape richness and values. According to current planning regulations, the aggregate mining industry is limited to a number of areas called extractive zones. The delimitation of such areas has some flaws and inconsistencies from the environmental point of view and from the consideration of the productive capacity of mining resources. This paper shows two models for environmental planning applied to the extractive activity for aggregates for the island of Tenerife, which could serve as alternatives to the current planning model: a model called zoned and another designated as zone-concentrated. These models provide improvements as far as respect for environmental values are concerned and are based on knowledge of the spatial distribution of geological materials. The conclusion is that this knowledge of the distribution of the potential mineral resources in the territory is the key to achieving the effective integration of mining in land-use planning, and to safeguard in the best possible way the mineral resources from the activities that may compromise their future availability. The applied methods could be extended to other territories, particularly islands, where it is very possible that there are similar problems to those that are occurring in Tenerife.