Palma de Mallorca / Radolfzell, June 19, 2012: Recently, about 10,000 Majorcans set an example and formed a human chain on the natural beach of Sa Ràpita – Es Trenc to protest against the planned construction of luxury hotels accommodating 1,200 guests. The Majorcans love their island and keep striving to preserve it.
Mallorca is much more than a haven for drunken people partying the whole day ("Ballermann"), the Spanish island has a stunning and varied landscape. Many tourists love and visit the island because of its natural beaches such as Es Trenc near Sa Ràpita, which have become very rare in Europe. In 1978 already, there were plans to construct hotels on the sandy dune beach of Es Trenc. Due to the massive protest of the Majorcan environmental organisation GOB (Grup Balear d´ Ornitologia i Defensa de la Naturalesa) this outrageous plan was stopped.
Despite the fact, that there are already numerous luxury hotels in Mallorca, further building projects are pursued – frequently by rather illegal methods. Thanks to GOB’s commitment, cases of corruption were revealed and punished. Even the UN office for Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) in Vienna, warns against illegal transactions and speculations in Mallorca.
Building the planned resort threatens not only the beautiful natural beach and its dune vegetation, but also parts of the ecologically important wetland Salobrar de Campos. In the town of Sa Ràpita drinking water is becoming scarce. If the luxury hotel and the golf course will be built as planned, the ground-water table will fall further with unpredictable consequences for the wetland. In Sa Ràpita, the annual average rainfall is 400 ml only corresponding to a semiarid (steppe-like) climate. To have an idea of the impacts of the hotel and the golf course on the groundwater-table, you must know that even a small golf course covering an area of 20 to 30 hectares needs as much freshwater as a village of 4,000 inhabitants.
Currently, there are sufficient tourist centres on the popular Balearic island e.g. Playa de Palma. There, many hotels should be urgently renovated or even newly built to prevent the construction of new hotel complexes at the still natural beaches of Majorca. Mallorca needs tourism – Majorcans and GOB agree on it, but the unique landscape and beauty of the island must be preserved. The natural beauty, besides the proverbial hospitality, is essential for this pearl of the Mediterranean Sea.
The wetland Salobrar de Campos is member of the international lakes network Living Lakes, and GOB is partner organisation of the Global Nature Fund (GNF). Currently, the network consists of over 90 organisations and successfully advocates sustainable development in lake regions. More details available at
www.globalnature.org.
GOB-Mallorca
Gerald Hau
Phone: 0034 -616 310 458
Email:
gobmallorca@email.de
Website:
www.gobmallorca.com
Global Nature Fund (GNF)
Udo Gattenlöhner
Phone: 0049- (0)77 32 - 99 95 – 0
Email:
info@globalnature.org
Website:
www.globalnature.org