Promotion of environmental policies which boost the development of a sustainable island is a priority that has been charted by the Island Council of La Gomera for 2008, this being one of the great challenges on which it has been working for several years. This was revealed by the President of the Insular Corporation, Casimiro Curbelo, who said that the main actions will focus on waste treatment, recovery of the old garbage dumps and cooperation with the six municipalities of La Gomera to achieve a sustainable balance in this area on the island.

In this regard, Curbelo recalls that the regeneration work of the old Puntallana garbage dump has already begun and will be completed shortly, and that there's a study which fixes at 7,1 million euros the investment needed to restore all the old garbage dumps of the island to their natural state. This report shows also that given the difficulty of access to Puntallana dump located on a marine cliff, it will be necessary to employ a marine work platform to refurbish the site.

He also notes that one of the priorities of the Island Council is the empowerment of a controlled waste treatment site for the disposal of inert waste from the island, which would receive all the remains from the construction works and the like. In this regard, he stresses that the Council has opened negotiations with various municipal corporations, but "however, this is only a first step and does not mean that it is the ultimate solution, because with the issue of waste we need to continue to work every day in order to achieve the sustainable development model chosen for the island."

Mr. Curbelo points out that "having a healthy and sustainable island is the best guarantee to encourage what today is our main economic engine, namely tourism." Furthermore, he stresses that “La Gomera can and should be an attractive island not only to the more than 22.000 residents, but also to visitors who come each year to this territory to spend their holidays."