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Uncontrolled development along Spain’s beautiful shorelines is having a decidedly adverse effect on the coastal ecology, warned Greenpeace in a report issued recently. This rampant construction also endangers Spain’s vital tourist industry.
The report states that “"The numbers demonstrate the failure on the part of local administrations to find a solution to the problems of the coastline and the need to adopt important reforms regarding the management of the coast to put the brakes on the coast's destruction."
The report also states that developers in Spain plan on building over 200,000 hotel rooms, 300 golf courses and 100 marinas along Spain’s coastline. These developments threaten to damage environmentally sensitive areas that are a big part of the reason why millions of tourists visit the country each year.
Although the Spanish economy has done a good job of diversifying its strengths (the real estate boom during the last decade being one example), the tourist industry still accounts for a huge part of its GDP (currently 12%).
It’s a well-known fact in Spain that much of this construction along the shore is actually illegal. Spanish authorities are currently investigating over 200 cases of corruption and illegal building along the famously sunny Costa del Sol.
News of corruption at the highest levels of Marbella’s local government last year spanned the globe as one politician after another landed in jail, thanks to illegal construction. By the time the dust settled even the mayor, Julián Muñoz, found himself behind bars.
The Spanish Ministry of Environment didn’t respond directly to Greenpeace’s report, although spokesmen claim the government is also engaged in efforts to protect the coastline from over-development.
It is true that a number of new developments (large, state-of-the-art holiday resorts among them) that were constructed without permits have been destroyed by the Spanish government in an effort to discourage further illegal development.
Nevertheless, the European Parliament has attacked Spain for allowing the current situation to come about, blaming – among other factors – Spain’s laidback construction laws, corrupt politicians and money-hungry developers.
The Parliament stated that Spain’s over-development problem has had a “disastrous effect” on Spain’s environment, particularly in Madrid and along the Mediterranean coast.
