Canarias No Se Vende: The Canary Islands Against Oil Drilling
The Spanish Government has known for decades that oil could exist beneath the deep waters of the Canary Islands archipelago — but extraction would be extremely difficult, expensive, and environmentally dangerous. In 2001 the Government of José María Aznar (PP) issued exploration permits to oil giant Repsol. A legal challenge over missing Environmental Impact Assessments led the Supreme Court to annul those permits in 2004 — but Repsol had already carried out seismic tests. The debate was put on hold under José Luis Zapatero, with the condition that no extraction could happen without "consensus in Canary society".
In 2012, the Rajoy Government reactivated the permits unilaterally. Canary society, backed by its institutions, mobilised against what was seen as a serious threat to the islands' fragile marine environment — and to a tourism economy that welcomes over 12 million visitors a year, drawn largely by the natural beauty of the archipelago. The movement Canarias No Se Vende was born.
What was at stake
Marine biodiversity: Canary waters host whales, dolphins, sea turtles and unique coastal ecosystems. An oil spill in deep-water drilling could be catastrophic and impossible to clean.
Tourism economy: Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and the other islands rely on 12+ million visitors per year — most arriving for the beaches, the diving, the natural parks. An oil platform on the horizon kills the very thing tourists pay to see.
Water supply: the islands depend on desalination plants. A polluted sea would mean a polluted water supply.
Local fishing: traditional small-boat fishing, already in decline, would have been wiped out by industrial activity.
The civic mobilisation
Between 2012 and 2014 thousands of Canarians took to the streets in Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, La Palma. Municipalities, the Canary regional Government, environmental NGOs (WWF, Greenpeace, Ben Magec) and grassroots associations joined forces. The movement organised:
Mass demonstrations (largest in Lanzarote with 30,000+ participants on an island of 140,000)
A symbolic island-wide referendum in November 2014, with over 80% of voters against drilling
Petitions to the European Parliament citing breaches of the EU Habitats Directive
Cultural events, documentaries, songs, school programmes
The outcome
In early 2015 Repsol officially abandoned the project, citing "lack of commercial viability" after the exploratory tests. Civil society victory: the islands' coast remained protected. The movement is still active monitoring any new exploration proposal, and its symbolic name "Canarias No Se Vende" has become shorthand for any defence of the islands' natural and social heritage against external commercial pressures.
