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M. J. Arrebola
Granada
Friday, 6 September 2024, 13:43
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After decades of waiting and fighting, the residents and holidaymakers of Albuñol on the coast of Granada province are enjoying another summer on Pozuelo beach that they had so longed for. The regeneration of the coastline, which a few years ago was occupied by greenhouses and plastic sheeting, has been returned to a natural space that had been occupied for years by crops.
The coastal town which was severely affected by the 1973 flood that left more than forty people dead and devastated numerous farms, was forced to rebuild its economy with greenhouses. While neighbouring towns opted for tourism, Albuñol filled its coastline with plastic. The traces of this tragedy lasted for decades, when the greenhouses took over the beach.
The demand for land regeneration became a priority for the town and more than forty years later, the central government's ministry for ecological transition began to remove the greenhouses on the coastal strip, despite facing resistance from the farmers who made their living from them.
By 2018, after long negotiations and conflicts, the 22 hectares of beach had been completely cleared. However, although the land was cleared of plastic, environmental regeneration was still pending and the beach still could not compete with other tourist destinations.
Now, years later, with the water clear and the sand clean, locals can enjoy a quiet and wide beach. Manuel Gamarra, who was born in Granada but a summer resident of El Pozuelo for 37 years, is a regular visitor. "This was all greenhouses and the plastics that were discarded ended up in the sea," he says as he recalls the large amount of rubbish that was generated on the coast.
For the locals, who have witnessed agriculture "stomping" along the coast for decades, this regeneration represents an opportunity to turn the town into a tourist destination. However, Manuel hopes that the town will not lose its quiet, family-oriented essence. "It's a very quiet town, it has quite a large coastline. If you take care of it, you can combine agriculture with tourism," he says.
The locals, used to seeing their beach covered in plastic, now see a light at the end of the tunnel. For some, like Manuel, a diving and fishing enthusiast, the recovery of the coastline has been a "prize" after years of struggle, although there is still work to be done. He also points out the lack of basic services such as supermarkets and beach bars, which limits the tourist potential of this coastal area.
Maria, another local resident who is strolling along the shore and enjoying the few remaining days of summer, agrees. "It has become a very beautiful beach, they have even put up a net to play volleyball but there are no bars", she explains.
After twenty years of insistence and numerous meetings with different governments, María José Sánchez, the town's mayor, managed to get the regeneration project off the ground. Her position at the time was clear: the regeneration of the beach represents an opportunity for Albuñol to develop a new economy based on tourism, which will allow it to aspire to a more sustainable future.
Sánchez agreed with the central department responsible for Spain's coast, known as 'Costas' to carry out three key projects for the transformation of the area: breakwaters in El Pozuelo (445,000 euros) and La Rábita (3.2 million euros), and the environmental regeneration of the 22 hectares of coastline. The aim was to protect the town centres and decontaminate a beach that for decades was exposed to plastics and chemical products from greenhouses.
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