Five years after the start of project to widen the famous Dona Ana beach, Lagos, the work that finally started on Monday is to be challenged by a demonstration called by Almargem which demands that the Portuguese Environment Agency stands down its contractors.
The addition of 140,000m3 of sand, the extension of the beach by a maximum of 40 metres and work to make safe the friable cliffs has been called "the destruction of ancient and stunning sea landscape" by the eco-organisation.
The subject of cliff erosion and the risks for tourists was brought into sharp focus in 2009 when a 60-year-old man and four women were crushed to death in a huge rockfall at the Maria Luisa Beach, Albufeira.
Councils then started to do what they could to make their beaches safe, mainly by tearing away bits of cliff that looked cracked and dangerous and by adding dredged sand at the cliff base to dampen the affects of the waves at high tide.
Often voted as the ‘Best Beach in Portugal’ by international publications such as Condé Nast Traveller, which also called it 'the most beautiful beach in the world,' Dona Ana beach is having work done that formed part of the 1999 plan for the coast line between Vilamoura and Burgau which provided for the consolidation of its cliffs to minimise the effects of erosion caused by tidal action, and to extend the beach.
The cost of all this work is €1.8 million and was ages late in starting due to a ‘technical error’ in the plan.
The environmentalists claim that "these interventions alone do not reduce the risk for swimmers who use the beaches below unstable cliffs."
Citing existing technical data, Almargem states that the work on the Algarve’s cliffs will never be enough to make the beaches safe, the only way to do this is to mark an exclusion zone at the base of the cliffs.
The association complains that little or nothing effective has been done to mark out the dangerous areas and complains that the authorities are more interested in the aesthetics of the beaches than the safety of their users.
Almargem points out some official trickery as the authorities did not look at the environmental impact of dredging so much sand from the sea and dumping it on the beach nor have they commissioned any analysis into the fundamental reasons for the increasing scarcity of sand along on the Algarve coastline.
The association wants to know what impact the dredging has had on the existing marine ecosystems and fish resources and what are the biodiversity consequences of dumping so much dredged sand on the beaches.
The work at Dona Ana may have consequences far beyond the convenience of sunbathers and Almargem wants the Ministry of the Environment to look at the wider issues and to have at least some public discussion about these beach projects.
The demonstration called by Almargem to demand the suspension of work is scheduled for 3pm this Saturday 18th April, down on the beach.
