Benidorm exposes its “historical ecological awareness” at ‘Foro Aire’

Benidorm City Council has today highlighted its “historical ecological awareness” during the International Forum of Natural Spaces and Parks held in Córdoba, which brings together professionals from different fields such as natural spaces, and activities in rural environments, management and suppliers of natural or technological spaces and digitalization.

This event, which is celebrating its first edition, aims to highlight the strategic role of the entire professional ecosystem of parks and natural spaces, energize initiatives for the conservation and activation of natural resources, the local development of natural areas and green entrepreneurship in its areas of influence and, finally, serve as a meeting point for the entire natural spaces sector.

The Councilor for the Presidency, Juan Díaz, who spoke at a debate table on 'Innovative models in the sustainable management of coastal tourism', highlighted that Benidorm is a city “very sensitive to its resilience, the ability to adapt to difficult situations and, therefore, has always thought 30 years ahead in search of the future.” At that point, he cited the 1956 General Plan, the first in Spain for an entire municipal area, “in which, without intending to, we established sustainability and protected 61% of the territory by setting construction standards.” Thus, he has stated, “Since 1963 Benidorm has consumed sky and not soil.”

Díaz also referred to the Benidorm Climate Change Adaptation Plan, “developed to reduce the effects of climate change and improve resilience.” A plan, he said, in which an analysis of the vulnerabilities and risks in the different economic sectors of the city has been carried out. “Consequently, adaptation measures and actions have been proposed. Benidorm has set itself tasks that it will fulfil before 20230 with 13 lines of action, 54 measures, a calendar and a schedule of financing lines.”

In terms of tourism, some of these measures involve “committing to energy efficiency in facilities and equipment, use of renewable energy and more efficient lighting systems, home automation and monitoring with new technologies and computer tools.”

The measures also cover other areas such as agriculture “with the protection of l'Horta'”, waste management “with greater efficiency in the design of routes” or urban planning “with bioclimatic construction as a key strategy and developments in line with said bioclimatic constructions.”

In the field of energy, Juan Díaz has highlighted that Benidorm “has additional plans that, as in the case of Energy Efficiency, have already acted on 75% of the city's lights and led to a reduction in the city's energy consumption. 75%”. Likewise, he added, “Photovoltaic energy already covers 87% of the electrical consumption of municipal buildings.” Furthermore, in terms of mobility, "the city has been betting for years on soft and ECO mobility and the development of drone flight management, becoming a laboratory for several national and international projects."

The councillor has also put on the table the development of actions such as 'Benidorm Friendly City 10-20-30', the Sustainable Mobility Plan or the more than 134 kilometres of bike lanes and cycle paths and has referred to interventions in protected spaces of the city such as preventive sensorization in El Moralet park, the development of the Benidorm green belt or the renaturalization of the entire municipal area.

Another highlight has been the protection of the coastal strip, with actions such as monitoring the waters of the bay, control of ravines and spills, the 'Smart Beaches' project, the protection of beaches with vegetated dunes or the Local Plan for the protection of the seashore.