APP-Ambiental is a web application developed to assess the magnitude of possible environmental impacts arising from tourist activity in areas of high environmental value and vulnerable. Developed by the Research Group on Technologies, Management and Environmental Biogeochemistry of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. It allows to record and assess the environmental impacts of four study areas in Macaronesia, among which is La Marciega, in the Gran canarian municipality of La Aldea de San Nicolás.
Visit app-ambiental.org and participate!
The research work that has allowed the development of this tool is part of the ECOTOUR Project, of the Interreg MAC Program 2014-2020, in which the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria participates together with other Canarian entities such as the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, the City Council of La Aldea de San Nicolás, and the Technological Center of Marine Sciences (CETECIMA). The aim of this project is to enhance the natural and cultural heritage of the coastal and protected areas in the Canary Islands, Azores, Cape Verde, Mauritania and Senegal, through the promotion of ecotourism activities. Precisely from the enhancement of areas of high environmental value for their use as ecotourism claims arose the need to develop a tool that would allow the environmental impacts that tourism activity itself entails on these delicate areas to be evaluated.
The application, which is available free of charge to everyone at app-ambiental.org, makes it possible to record and quantify the environmental damage identified in an area, according to criteria that respond, albeit with the subjectivity of the user, to an environmental impact matrix validated in the work of the research group in this project.
As soon as you start, the application allows you to select the user profile, distinguishing between “ecotourist”, “environmental specialist” or “local”. In this way, it is intended to extend the field of action of the application, covering the observations of other types of profiles, beyond the visitors, which can enrich the environmental assessment of the place. The information introduced in the application is collected anonymously and used in the framework of the ECOTOUR Project to elaborate proposals for the improvement of the management of these spaces, in order to maintain a good environmental status that allows the development of ecotourism activities while safeguarding the environmental values that support them.
Related news on the website of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria:
https://www.ulpgc.es/noticia/investigadores-ulpgc-desarrollan-aplicacion-web-registro-impactos-ambientales