El Hierro, une île durable
En juin 2014, El Hierro, la plus petite ile de l'archipel Canarien, a inaugure sa centrale hydro-eolienne. Grâce a cette infrastructure, elle est en passe de devenir la premiere ile au monde 100 % autonome en energie grâce aux energies renouvelables // Depuis des siecles, les habitants d'El Hierro ont du s'adapter a des conditions de vie difficiles. Aucune riviere ne coule sur l'ile. Bien avant la conquete espagnole, en 1405, ses habitants originels, les Bimbaches, avaient cependant su tirer partie du brouillard qui baigne en permanence la zone de Monteverde, sur les hauts-plateaux : ils avaient decouvert un arbre de la famille des lauracees qu'ils qualifiaient de pieges a brouillard et qui leur permettaient de subvenir a leurs besoins en eau. Les feuilles de cet arbre captaient les goutelettes de brouillard, lesquelles ruisselaient ensuite le long de l'arbre et s'accumulaient dans les puits, constituant des reserves d'eau vitales. Arrache lors d'une tempete en 1610, un exemplaire de cet arbre venere, l'Árbol Santo Garoe, a ete replante en 1947 sur le site par Don Zósimo, alors chef des gardes forestiers...---..In June 2014, El Hierro, the smallest of the Canary Islands, has inaugurated its wind farm and hydropower plant. The island is on its way to become the first island in the World to use only renewable energies to support the needs for electricity and water of its inhabitants // For centuries, the inhabitants of El Hierro have had to adapt to tough conditions. There's for instance no river running on the slopes of El Hierro. Long before the spanish invasion of the island in 1405, its very first inhabitants, The Bimbaches, took advantage of the mist constantly soaking the highlands in Monteverde area : they had discovered a tree from the Lauraceae family which they called a "mist trap" and helped them quenching their thrist. Its leaves could catch the tiny drops of water contained in the mist. These were then falling down along the trunk to the feet of the trees, where water were collected in dwells. This water storage soon became very vital to the Bimbaches. Back to 1610, a huge storm broke the tree. In 1947, a new "Árbol Santo Garoe" has been replanted at the exact same place as the revered tree by Don Zósimo, a former forest keeper.
