Residents of Guardamar have returned to defend the coast against the regression of the coastline. The Guardamar Playa Residents’ Association, part of the civic movement Somos Mediterrania, with more than 50 associations from all over the Spanish coast, gathered on the coastline last Saturday displaying banners that read, among other messages, “The coast in extinction does have a solution.”
They group spent almost an hour on the beaches Babilonia and Centro of Guardamar del Segura.
The demonstrations have been dragging on for years due to the loss of beaches. According to the AVV Guardamar Playa, “neither the Guardamar Council, nor the MITECO, have put any solutions on the table and have even put obstacles in the way of our public participation.
There have been successive refusals by the council to motions to form a joint Working Group with those affected (neighbours, port, environmentalists, responsible administrations), or by the Ministry refusing to initiate regeneration or protection actions.”
The association argues that “Guardamar is an excellent candidate for the implementation of submerged and free-standing reefs, a technique that is already being applied successfully in many other locations: they allow sand, marine life and biodiversity to be secured; and make beaches safer in storms. And this, without the usual impact of traditional breakwaters.”
The association’s spokesperson, Manuel López, says that “numerous public and private studies already indicate that the lack of sedimentary supply from the river, together with an erroneous design of the river mouth, are the main causes of the loss of beaches, the impact on the pine forest (a protected area of the Natura 2000 Natural Park), navigation problems in the port, and damage to residents and infrastructure.”
He therefore insists that “political will and urgent legislative reforms are necessary, which the authorities refuse to implement.”
