The fine white sand beaches of the south of Menorca and the lunar landscapes of Favàritx, in the geological area known as the dark Menorca, are two of the areas of the island most punished by a unique erosion that is not related to climate change . It is another of the silent impacts of mass tourism, which takes shape in the looting of significant amounts of geological material that tourists try to take back to their countries of origin as a personalized souvenir.
Much of this material is retained at airport security controls. The Council of Menorca puts figures every year to this spoil, which is specified in stones, sand, shells and other fossil elements. In the last summer season, 1,083 kilograms of geological material were confiscated at the airport, and as of 2015, the first year in which there are records, the figure rises to more than 14 tons of confiscated material. It’s a practice that may seem harmless, but it causes significant damage to the geological heritage of Menorca, if you count the thousands of thefts that take place each year.
This material is a minimal part of everything that is calculated to be taken by tourists, but no matter how minimal it is, the recovery of this material at Maó airport allows it to have a second life, thanks to an agreement between Aena, the Council of Menorca and the Mestral association.
Marta Carreras, Environment technician of the Menorca Council, explains that the Mestral association is responsible for collecting everything that is confiscated at the airport and returns the geological material to the Menorca Council. In November, once the tourist season is over, it is collected and classified according to the class of material and the geological zones on the island to then return it to the area where it was extracted .
For this reason, the interpretive guidelines of the Center for Geology, attached to the Council’s Environment department, are followed, which differentiates five landscape units on the island, according to their geological characteristics, popularly ordered according to the color of the rocks: Menorca dark, red, gray, white and yellow. The sands, pebbles and other rocks that are collected at the airport passenger control are returned to the environment based on these units, which, apart from color, have other geological characteristics in common. In this way, it is possible to integrate the geological material into its natural environment.
Carreras explains that the geological souvenirs preferred by tourists, due to their uniqueness and beauty, are the fine sand in the south of the island, in the white Menorca, and the black and red stones in the north, in the lunar landscapes of Favàritx and other points on the island. The recovery work of the Menorca Council helps to keep these areas in good condition, but Carreras recognizes that it is nothing more than the tip of the iceberg of a much larger problem. “Not everything that is taken from the island is detected at the airport and, moreover, we don’t know what goes into the holds of the planes or the ships”, acknowledges this technique. It also indicates that the Menorcans themselves do it without being aware of the harm it causes.
Carreras considers it essential that citizens understand the impact of the mass removal of this geological material, because it can mean a large-scale modification of the terrain. He points out that tourists take a stone or a bit of sand with them, thinking it is a harmless action, but when the extraction is multiplied by the thousands of visitors the island has, it becomes a full-fledged plunder. Menorca received 1.7 million travelers in 2022 for an island that has just reached 100,000 inhabitants.
Would it be appropriate to put posters in the main tourist areas or even at the airport so that tourists become aware of it and do not commit this silent plunder? It could be an option. Carreras thinks that campaigns could be carried out in this regard and points out that this public awareness has helped other actions harmful to the environment to practically disappear, such as mud baths in some areas of the island, which became fashionable years ago.
“One of the geologists who has helped in this program before remembers that he has come to see how the tourists took mud from some parts of the island after taking a mud bath”. He indicates that, fortunately, these practices have gone out of fashion because they had a great effect in areas of the island, such as Cavalleria, where dozens of people gathered to smear themselves with the mud of the cliffs for the supposed beneficial effects .
These baths eroded the cliffs and caused a loss of more than a ton of mud that is not renewed and, in addition, the erosion of the land causes the collapse of rocks. On the other hand, the health authorities assure that there are no scientific studies that support its benefits for the skin and it can cause infections if the mud is in stagnant water.
Another fashion that had consequences in the transformation of the natural environment has also been overcome: piling stones and pebbles into towers in the natural areas of the Balearic Islands. Marta Carerras points out that there were campaigns for people to stop doing it and now it has practically disappeared.
The task of sorting and returning these materials to the geological areas of origin is done in collaboration with Mestral, a social entity that is responsible for collecting stones, sand and fossils. The students of one of the training itineraries of the Cáritas job placement program are in charge and they are the ones who do the classification with a previous training workshop given by Agustí Rodríguez, geologist and director of the Menorca Geology Centre.
Guillem Velázquez, plant manager of the warehouse of this association in Maó, explains the details of the project and points out that one of the pillars of the workshops is environmental training. Mestral takes care of everything that is retained at airport security controls, not just the ecological material. Without going too far, for example, in the summer they have collected more than 300 kilos of sun creams which they classify and sell. Other items confiscated are parasols and sharp objects such as razors and knives.
