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Issues of concern

In the last decades Ibiza has undergone an explosive growth process, leading to untenable resource use, waste generation and extensive environmental degradation. This unsustainable development has been driven mainly by tourism.

The rapid transition of Ibiza from a subsistence (farming) economy to one where tourism is the single main activity and driving sector, has led to an unbalanced and unsustainable growth pattern with a tremendous impact on the island’s environment. An island with a residential population of 100,000 comes under colossal pressure when more than 2 million tourists arrive annually. This massive flow of tourists in a short period of time exceeds the capacity of the island’s environment, and has generated a huge demand for land, water and energy, while producing an increasing volume of wastes.

The impact on Ibiza’s fragile landscapes and ecosystems has been severe. In 2007 a panel of more than 500 tourist experts rated Ibiza worst out of 111 islands around the world in terms of tourism impact.

Current issues of concern include:

Transformed coastlines and inland landscapes

The last decades have seen much of Ibiza’s coastline transformed by urbanizations. This process is now expanding inland, posing a menace to the remaining well-preserved areas in the island. Tourism development in Ibiza has been accompanied by the construction of golf courses and marinas, with a significant environmental impact. A golf project in the outskirts of Ses Salines Park, for instance, is a threat to this protected area. Moreover, golf courses require considerable quantities of water, driving demand for more desalination plants that are major polluters and high energy users. Marinas have a great impact in fragile coastal areas, and in Ibiza they also threaten valuable marine habitats, such as the Posidonia meadows.

Large Transport Infrastructure

Plans to enlarge the existing airport in order to expand its capacity (one million more passengers per year) are a major environmental concern, not only because visits already exceed the carrying capacity of the island but also because the works will have a significant negative impact in Ses Salines Natural Park.

In 2009 the Spanish government also gave green light to a project to expand the facilities of the existing port in the city of Ibiza. The project poses a serious threat to the Posidonia meadows that have been declared World Heritage site, and in November 2009 the UNESCO mission that assessed its impact concluded that the scale of the development is “beyond acceptable limits” and recommended “to re-examine alternative options for port development and select those which are more rational and involving limited expansion”.

Loss of important habitats and biodiversity

Most of Ibiza’s important habitats are coastal or marine areas, threatened by urbanization and other activities connected to mass tourism. Natura 2000 Network map

Even existing Natural Parks are at risk: protection has not safeguarded fragile habitats in Ses Salines Park from the massive influx of tourism, while the drastic reduction of Cala d’Hort protected area in 2007 implies that protection of valuable habitats in the area from housing development or sport facilities, such as golf courses, is currently uncertain.

Marine habitats of key international importance, such as Ses Salines prairies of Posidonia oceanica, are currently threatened by navigation and by infrastructure projects, such as plans to enlarge port facilities in Ibiza town. The fields of Posidonia are a great source of biodiversity, harbouring a remarkable number of plant and animal species, some of them highly endangered.

Water scarcity and pollution

Escalating water demand from mass tourism in the last decades has led to depleted and polluted aquifers and to a growing dependency on desalination plants, that contaminate coastal waters and contribute strongly to Ibiza’s soaring energy demand.

A recent assessment of Ibiza underground waters reports very high concentrations of chloride ion, an indication that aquifers are heavily contaminated with seawater as a result of overexploitation.

Soaring energy use

Energy consumption in Ibiza has risen dramatically (almost 70%) over the last decade. Transport – including air traffic – is the main energy user in the island, accounting for more than 60% of total energy consumption.

Power generation is currently another main destination of oil imports to the island. In the near future a natural gas pipeline linking Ibiza to the peninsula will allow substitution of oil by natural gas, mitigating the climate change impact of Ibiza’s electricity production. But tourism growth, new desalination plants and an escalating use of air conditioners and other electrical appliances threatens to undo the positive impact of this development.

Meanwhile, Ibiza’s potential for solar energy remains almost untapped.

Increased waste

Sewage plants are one of the main “black spots” in Ibiza coastal areas. In the tourism season existing facilities simply cannot cope with sewage discharge, which ends up being dumped into the sea.

The volume of household waste is also increasing, and selective collection and recycling currently represents a small fraction of total waste produced (some 6.6% and 5.4% in 2008). A new separation facility is expected to cut by half the amount of rubbish dumped in the landfill once it comes into operation, but further measures are required to encourage waste reduction and recycling, and to improve collection services.

Loss of rural landscapes, agrobiodiversity and traditional knowledge on sustainable resource management

Decades of tourism monoculture in Ibiza have entailed an extensive abandonment of farming. Abandonment not only leads to a loss of attractive rural landscapes and valuable cultural features: it also means that local agricultural varieties and traditional knowledge on sustainable resource management risk being lost forever.

Meanwhile, Ibiza’s food supply is largely dependent on imports. Local agriculture, predominantly small-scale, has difficulties in competing with intensive production from outside. But a growing demand for quality food and organic products produced locally provides new opportunities for the recovery of farming. Organic production is on the rise, with more than 10% of farmers now growing organic food on some 362 hectares of farmland.

Loss of cultural heritage

Ibiza is known for its beaches, its Mediterranean landscape, and its nightlife. But it also harbours an impressive cultural heritage that has been neglected for decades. Dalt Vila, declared cultural UNESCO World Heritage site in 1999, abounds in beautiful – and derelict – buildings. Archaeological sites, largely ignored, are being destroyed by road-building and urban development. And although praiseworthy efforts have been devoted to cataloguing the remarkable rural heritage of the island (fountains, cisterns, lime kilns etc.), effective action to protect it is lacking. Apadrina Patrimonio, a programme launched in 2008 by the Ibiza government to encourage local involvement in cultural heritage conservation, is contributing to raise public awareness. But the task ahead is still vast.