Spain: Overbuilding Damaging Coasts

Rampant construction along the Spanish coastline is damaging Spain’s shores and endangering the vital tourism industry, environmental organisation Greenpeace warned last week.

Greenpeace say developers plan to build more than 200,000 hotel rooms, 316 golf courses and 112 marinas in environmentally sensitive areas, threatening to damage Spanish costas that annually attract millions of tourists. Spanish police are currently investigating nearly 200 cases of corruption in the southern coast region of Andalucia, that have led to illegal building along protected coastal areas.

The Spanish Environment Ministry had no immediate reaction to the report, although a spokesman said the government is also trying to protect the coast.

Last week, the European Parliament firmly condemned Spain for the environmental damage that over-development had caused in Madrid and along the Mediterranean coast. In a motion, it said the mix of lax building laws, greedy developers and corrupt politicians had had a “disastrous effect” on the country’s environment.

Tourism accounts for about 12 percent of Spain’s gross domestic product.