Pioneering change of strategy in some of the municipalities of the Costa Daurada and the Ebro delta continuously punished by increasingly intense and frequent maritime storms, straddling the climate emergency. From repairing every year the abundant damage caused by the waves to the promenades to dismantling the fixed structures of cement and asphalt, renaturalizing part of the coastal facade that had been urbanized for decades and retreating inland to give more space to the beach and the sea.
A strategy that, moreover, scientists assure will be effective in protecting the coast against rising sea levels. In charge of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, among the first to have already decided to take a step back are the councils of Vila-seca (Tarragonès), which will start remodeling works at the beginning of the year, Calafell (Baix Penedès) , also in 2024, and Roda de Berà (Tarragonès), although, in his case, with the project still in the study phase. Also the Ajuntament de l’Ampolla, on the delta coast, will act in agreement with the ministry in one of the areas most affected by the climate crisis, on the Arenal beach, in a stretch of about two kilometers. The boardwalk will be removed to reclaim a now broken beach.
The political decisions, of consensus between the local administrations and the central government, with full powers in the land maritime public domain space, agree with the criteria of the scientists, which is also innovative.
“These are infrastructures that have become obsolete, but it is important that society understands the importance of adapting the infrastructure of the coast to the rising sea level and the increasingly frequent maritime storms”, explains Carles Ibáñez, scientific director of the Eurecat Climate Resilience Center (Technological Center of Catalonia). “It is necessary to redesign the coast in an orderly and agreed manner and the supra-municipal administrations must help the councils to make this transition”, adds Ibáñez.
Some councils are beginning to realize that with the progress of the climate crisis it makes less and less sense to make millions of dollars in investments to rebuild the most vulnerable sections of the promenades and to be forced to request, in addition, the contribution every spring of tens of thousands of cubic meters of sand on unprotected and damaged beaches.
“The criterion changed after the Gloria storm, we are at a turning point. The Ministry for Ecological Transition will no longer pay for repairs to boardwalks in the public domain. We are committed to structural solutions and we always try to reach agreements with the affected municipalities”, explains Antoni Espanya, head of the Ministry’s Costs in Tarragona. The intervention in the first four municipalities “will encourage other municipalities to renaturalize their coast”, adds Spain.
The promenades are a great tourist showcase for the sun and beach towns. Arising mainly in the 1970s and 1980s, the urbanization of a large part of the maritime facades was done right behind the beaches, too close to the water.
The Costa Daurada and the Ebro delta suffer particularly from the consequences of rising sea levels and increasingly intense maritime storms. This explains, in part, that they are among the pioneer municipalities in a change of strategy that will predictably affect other sections around the Catalan coast.
The urban context of each promenade is key to making its dismantling and the renaturalization process viable or not. Above all, space is needed to be able to step back and give more accommodation space in each case to the sea and the beach. When it comes to coastal stretches with homes or other properties such as restaurants very close to the promenade, the situation is particularly complicated. It is much more feasible to deconstruct a promenade, a space for public use, than to propose expropriations.
One of the municipalities most punished by the storms, Altafulla (Tarragonès), has the problem of the urban context. Attached to the promenade, a huge tourist attraction, there are houses and commercial premises, including restaurants. Undoing it is unfeasible due to the enormous human and economic impact.
The last major maritime storm, in October, once again severely punished Altafulla’s promenade. A study has been commissioned at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) to analyze the dynamics of the coast in the last six years in the face of storms and decide how to act in the medium term.
The proposed solution, which will not be implemented until the UPC study is ready, predictably in 2025, is the construction of a breakwater. Meanwhile, the municipal government (L’EINA and Junts) is asking the central government to co-finance the remodeling of the promenade. “We know that Costes has said that he will not remodel more promenades, but in other municipalities there are consensus solutions between councils and the State and we would like to reach an agreement”, explained Alba Muntadas, co-mayor of Altafulla, after presenting a few weeks the study commissioned at the UPC.
The Pineda seafront (Vila-seca), one of the most frequented beaches of the entire Costa Daurada, a tourist enclave, will become at the beginning of 2024 one of the first scenarios where the paradigm shift will begin to become a reality. The coastline will recede about twenty meters. The project will begin to be visualized now, but it is the result of many years of work. The view is also long: the horizon is 2100, when the sea level is expected to rise between half a meter and one metre.
The road will be removed and an area of ??dunes and vegetation will be created to protect the coast. The investment, of nearly 10 million euros, has received European funds. “If you look at La Pineda beach from the air, the vast majority of spaces are green or sandy areas, also the result of expropriations. We have been fighting for thirty years. For a beach to have a future, it needs to be re-naturalized”, says Pere Segura (Junts), mayor of Vila-seca.
Renaturalization will play a key role in protecting the coastal strip against rising sea levels. “It’s the fish that bites its tail. If there is less space on the coast because it was built up, the beach is more weakened against the force of the sea. And, if the beaches are increasingly weakened, we don’t have this natural barrier”, warns Ibáñez (Eurecat).
“If you add sand to a beach that is not in balance, the sand will end up being lost”, warns Spain (Coasts). And with the sand, millions of euros of public money.
In Segur de Calafell (Baix Penedès) part of Plaça del Mil·lenari will soon be demolished to gain beach space. The Ministry for the Ecological Transition will finance the works, which have already passed all the administrative procedures. The action will help to stabilize the beach of Mas Mel, punished by the storms.
It will not be the only renaturation action in Calafell. “We are evaluating others and there will be more,” explains Aron Marcos, councilor for Urban Ecology. “The time has come to act, there is no other alternative than to adapt to climate change, we must deconstruct. If you explain it sincerely, the neighbors understand and people prefer to have more beach; the promenade does not protect us”, adds Marcos.
In Roda de Berà they are also clear that the promenade will have to be dismantled and the Llarga beach, currently urban, will have to be renaturalized and travel back three decades. The project is still in a very embryonic state, but the municipal government sees it favorably.
“Resilience must be worked on to turn a serious problem into an opportunity that involves an investment”, warns Ibáñez (Eurecat), leading voice on strategies to deal with the climate emergency from the Ebro delta. In a territory like the deltaic plain, the rise in sea level will have an even greater impact if no action is taken.
