Portugal: the coasts invaded by the concreting of the land

70 km of coastline among the most preserved in Europe, threatened by unprecedented real estate pressure. Facing the ocean, bulldozers are at work digging the dune. Coming soonwill raise a tourist complex in theAlentejosouth of Lisbon (Portugal). Jacinto Ventura, resident of Grandola (Portugal)shows the road to the village beach. The road is now paved and blocked. “Now this path belongs to a resort that has just been built, they don’t want us to go through it anymore”he explains. So we have to take a detour. At the end of the road, the area is now private. “Every summer, families met here (…) it was our life and it was taken away from us”he laments.

This has become the battleground of environmental activists. They fight against the construction of the hotel complex. In a five star hotel located on the edge of the rice field, inaugurated two years ago, the boss assures that he can combine tourism and ecology. “We worked with water treatment systems, we have solar panels”he lists. Everywhere, sumptuous villas are being built for those who want to enjoy the Portuguese sun. From now on, land can be bought at the price of gold. The municipality has thus lost thousands of inhabitants, which does not bother the mayor, considering that this brings employment and benefits the city.