- A sustainable intervention in the traffic circle of the Nuestra Señora de África Market and an explanatory table on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the main lines of the action.
The Santa Cruz City Council, through the Santa Cruz Sostenible Foundation, and with the collaboration of the Fundación Cepsa, has fixed the traffic circle located at the main entrance of the Nuestra Señora de África Market, one of the busiest areas of the city, and which will remind passers-by that we have a mission to fulfill, which is to take care of the planet.
The mayor was accompanied by the director of Cepsa in the Canary Islands, José Manuel Fernández-Sabugo and the head of the Fundación Cepsa in the Islands, Belén Machado, as well as the second deputy mayor, Evelyn Alonso; the councilman of the Salud-La Salle district, Carlos Tarife; the councilwoman of Education, Claudia Reverón; the president of the Nuestra Señora de África Market, Estefanía Hernández; as well as a representation of the IES Alcalde Bernabé Rodríguez.
"Today we present a symbol of our municipality's commitment, hand in hand with the Fundación Cepsa, to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. With the unveiling of this explanatory table and the adaptation of the traffic circle, through which thousands of people pass every day, we are promoting the objectives and inviting the public to continue to join in this challenge," said Bermúdez.
For his part, the director of Cepsa in the Canary Islands, José Manuel Fernández-Sabugo, remarked that this action, "in which the Fundación Cepsa has actively collaborated, is a commitment to sustainability, having reconverted the traffic circle with a new design and content more respectful of the environment, while commemorating the Sustainable Development Goals, represented here by many circles of ornamental plants. This is the first space in the city dedicated to making them known and raising public awareness of the need to achieve them. We would like every citizen who passes through here to remember that we all - governments, businesses, civil society and citizens - have a role to play, each in our own sphere, in the search for solutions that will allow us to protect the planet, eradicate poverty and reduce existing inequalities".
The explanatory table reflects, in addition to the commitment to the SDGs, the work that has been carried out in the traffic circle, which has been given a sustainable character by replacing the existing grass cover with ornamental shrubs irrigated by a drip system that reduces water consumption, in addition to an improvement of the soil with the incorporation of new substrate and the installation of a layer of aggregate mulch that protects it (by preventing runoff and erosion) and retains moisture, so that the frequency of application and irrigation doses decreases.
