Origins, Management, and Measurement of Stress on the Coast of Southern Spain

Abstract

For political reasons Spain's Costa del Sol had until recently presented a classic example of reactive coastal management. The 1988 Coasts Act introduced a more proactive approach, but its management still lacks a scientific classification of the coastline upon which to base coastal policy. Such an overgeneralized delineation of the coastal domain generally ignores the variations in physical and socioeconomic variables and is likely to lead to oversimplified management practices. Against the background of the policies adopted over the past 50 years, this article presents an index that delineates different degrees of sensitivity of the coastline of the Costa del Sol. A geographical information system (GIS) approach is adopted in the construction of the index that recognizes that coastal vulnerability is equally a function of physical processes and human activities. Four physical (lithology, landforms, river discharge, marine processes) and two anthropomorphic (population growth, urbanization) components are incorporated, and the results are applied to produce a broadly based measure for policy making in southern Spain that also has applicability in other coastal situations.

Dune Systems’ Characterization and Evolution in the Andalusia Mediterranean Coast (Spain)

“…The increase, in the 2001-2016 period, of the Type II in Málaga province was linked to the degradation of Type III dunes, especially evident in an area west of Marbella (Figure 2B) that was greatly impacted by urban developments, a quite common trend in Málaga province [41,46,47]. The increase of Type III in Almería was due to the stabilization of Type II dunes, especially in the area from Albufera de Adra to Almerimar and at Cabo de Gata (Figure 2E,F), which are areas where the shoreline is stable [39].…”

“…Málaga is the province that has experienced the most important coastal occupation, in particular due to the construction of structures related to national and international tourism [45]. Main commercial ports are located at Almería, Algeciras, Cádiz and Málaga, and several marinas at Costa del Sol [46][47][48]. Concerning weather characteristics, the provinces of Cádiz, Málaga and Granada have a Mediterranean climate with sub-tropical characteristics, with coastal orientation and the Betic Chain favoring average annual temperature of ca.…”

“…Erosion or complete disappearance of dune systems can be produced by human activities or natural processes [65][66][67]. Anthropic impacts were related to: (i) urban developments, mainly due to the coastal tourist demand, and the associated opening of pathways on dune ridges, which was especially evident in Málaga province (Figure 5) [41,46,48,55,68], (ii) dunes' occupation due to the demand for agricultural uses, as observed at different locations in Andalusia, and reported by References [67,[69][70][71][72][73] in other Mediterranean Spanish areas (in Catalonia, [56]) or on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco [74] and (iii) the decrease of sediments' inputs to coastal environments due to the construction of ports and harbors, as observed along the study area by Malvárez et al [46] and Manno et al [48], and the reduction of the sedimentary load of rivers due to the construction of dams in river basins, especially in Málaga and Almería provinces [43,46,75], also observed in other Mediterranean rivers, e.g., for the Ebro [76] and the Arno [77] rivers.…”

“…The greatest loss of dune surface was recorded in the 1977-2001 period due to the massive urban occupation of coastal areas, although in the 2001-2016 period, a decrease in the loss of dunes' surfaces was observed because the main causes of their destruction recorded in the previous period partially ceased. Cases of disappearance due to urban occupation were still observed, especially in Málaga province [41], but the anthropic pressure derived from the tourist use of beaches and the decrease in river contributions were not so evident as in the 1977-2001 period [46,[68][69][70][71][72][73].…”

“…With the exception of the province of Cádiz, the rest of the provinces showed a decrease of the three types of dunes in the first period and, in the second period, a decrease of types I and III and an increase of Type II in all provinces except Almería. The general decrease recorded in the period 1977-2001 was mainly due to urban occupation, intensive agricultural exploitation and the extraction of sand-such activities were not regulated until the approval of the Coastal Law in 1988 [41,46,47,55,[68][69][70][71][72][73]. Dune destruction was especially evident in Málaga and Almería provinces, where entire dune systems disappeared: in Málaga province, a total surface of 1,766,711 m 2 was lost, of which ca.…”