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Ibiza and Formentera beaches at risk of disappearing due to rising sea levels

The Balearic coastline, if the current warming trend continues, would recede 20 centimeters per year, which would mean the disappearance of up to 71 beaches by the end of the century in the region, which already has 25 more areas threatened by 2030. In Ibiza, seven beaches could disappear and in Formentera, six. This is what emerges from a report published Tuesday by Greenpeace, which refers to a study by the Oceanographic Center of the Balearic Islands, belonging to the Spanish Institute of Oceanography.

In the document, the environmental organization highlights that erosion and rising sea levels represent serious threats to the coastline of the islands. Thus, if the current warming trend continues, the Balearic coastline would retreat 20 centimeters per year.

By islands, it would mean the loss of 25 beaches in Mallorca, 33 in Menorca, seven in Ibiza and six in Formentera, while “many of the remaining beaches would be reduced by half” by the end of the century, according to the study of the Oceanographic Center. And closer to 2030, Greenpeace lists in the document which are the most threatened areas in the Balearic Islands.

According to concrete, these are the port of Formentera, ses Illetes beach, Llevant beach and Cas Saliners, in the case of Formentera; Talamanca, Sant Francesc de s’Estany, port of Sant Antoni, Cala Gració, Punta Galera and Cala Salada, in the case of Ibiza; muro beach, Alcúdia, s’Albufereta nature reserve, sa Calobra, Es Malgrat, Paseo Marítimo de Palma and Salines des Trenc, in Mallorca; Maó, Cala Llonga, Sa Mesquida, s’Albufera d’Es Grau Natural Park, Fornells, Ciutadella, Cala Galdana and Biniancolla, in the case of Menorca.

The time of anything goes

Greenpeace recalls in its report that the Balearic coast extends along 1,428 kilometers, “a space that has managed to escape the model of cement and concrete, with some exceptions, of the Mediterranean peninsular, although it is worrying the tourist-residential agglomeration concentrated in very specific locations where it exerts a very intense pressure on the ecosystem”.

Thus, they warn that 8.1 percent of the coast of the Balearic Islands is degraded due to the occupation of the soil by artificial surfaces, housing and associated infrastructure.

They also allude to the “overcrowded and unplanned” tourism model in the archipelago and applaud the fact that it is being “strongly contested by a large sector of the population, desperate for the damage and inconvenience of having cities like Palma at the service of tourism”.

“According to all the studies, Palma, along with Barcelona and Madrid, are at the top of the touristification”, sentenced from the organization, recalling that the price of housing has risen 158 percent in the Balearic capital in the last decade and criticizing that the Govern, for its part, “has regressed to the era of anything goes”.

In this regard, they criticize some of the regulations adopted by the current Balearic Executive as the simplification decree, especially affecting the legalization of buildings and parking on rural land in different municipalities.

“In some cases they affect protected rural land and archaeological areas, giving amnesty to municipalities that violate their own urban planning,” they criticize.

In this way, Greenpeace believes that it is promoting “territorial destruction, real estate speculation and the rise of tourism and real estate business especially”, also taking into account the elimination of the Environmental Commission of the Islands.

The ecologists also mention the case of Palma, where it seems that “citizen mobilization has been heard” and the City Council has announced measures related to the limit on the number of cruise ships or increase the inspection of illegal tourist housing. “But, contradictorily, there is a project to expand the port of Palma,” they lament.

Finally, the organization warns that climate change and human activities are having a “strong impact” on the waters of the Balearic Islands, which have “worryingly low levels of oxygen”.

“This is the worst point of all the Mediterranean Sea due to human discharges and climate change,” they stress, while recalling that erosion and rising sea levels pose serious threats to the Balearic coastline.

For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.

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