Exploiting economic opportunities (Spain's concrete coast)

Urban growth:

Benefits:

• Raised levels of development in one of Europe's poorest regions

Problems:

• Minimal planning regulations and controls for first 20 years of mass tourism therefore development was uncoordinated and piecemeal 
• Cheap and shoddily constructed high-rise hotels and apartment blocks 
• Little provision for access to beaches (i.e promenades) as well as traffic management, parks and sewage treatment facilities 
• Development has reached saturation point along most stretches, (Torremolinos and Fuengirola, 3/4 fully urbanised for nearly 1km inland)
• 30,000 illegally built houses since planning controls
• Widespread corruption and bribery (El Algarrobico hotel scandal on the Costa Callida- given permission for in 2003 on a 200ha site)
• 65,000 foreigners own own properties on the Costa del Sol (expected to increase to 200,000 by 2012)
• 30% increase in the number of new hotels built between 2000 and 2004, pressure on land, traffic circulation, water resources and the natural environment

Solutions:

• Modern planning policies aim to restrict urban development and remove eyesore from the 1960's-70's
• Protests from local pressure groups and Greenpeace meant the Ministry of Environment stated the El Algarrobico was illegal in 2006

Golf tourism:

Facts:

• Andalucia has 90 golf courses (plans to increase it to 200)
• 50% of courses on the Costa del Sol

Benefits:

• Attract new hotels
• Apartments in urbanizaciones with access to golf cost on average 40% more
• Per capita spending of golf tourists is much higher than other groups 

Problems:

• No longer able to compete with the 'sun and sand' holiday destinations
• Drought-prone region, golf course needs 700,000 m³/yr (enough to supply a town of 15,000-25,000 people)

Solutions:

• Planners trying to stop developments that are non-sustainable
• Ecologists argue golf courses should be decided at regional not provincial level

Marinas: 

Benefits:

• Provide an area for the mooring of pleasure boats
• Artificial beach replenishment provides permanent beaches for the expensive properties in the area

Problems:

• In 2006 increased construction of harbours, piers and breakwaters disrupted sediment movement in the coastal zone=beach starvation and erosion. (e.g Puerto Banas marina prevented longshore drift across the mouth of Rio Verde)

Solutions:

• Groynes constructed downdrift of the marinas to prevent loss of sediment offshore
• Artificial beach sediment (good short-term but unsustainable)(Mined offshore destroying sea meadows and the marine animals dependent on them)
• Government policy not to replenish beaches that lose sand due to coastal constructions

Sustainable management-Khushab, Pakistan

Context:

In Northern Pakistan and dependent on irrigation and agriculture.

Challenges:

1. Irrigation has not been managed well (has led to water-logging and a rise in the water-table)
2. As the water-table rises it brings up the soluble salts to the surface 
3. These salts are toxic to plants
4. 8,000 families incomes dwindled as agricultural productivity declined 

Solution:

• World Bank has invested $69million to reduce the water-logging and salinisation
• Installed PVC pipes to allow drainage underground
• Irrigation ditches have been lined to prevent seepage into the fields
• Farms are used to educate farmers about sustainable water management

Successful?

• Reduced water-logging by 50% in 2 years
• Improved incomes per capita from $46 in 1989 to $195 in 2005
• The average family is now 34% above the official poverty line.

Sustainable management-Great green wall, China

Where is the risk of desertification?

• Affects 1/3 of total land area
• Northern China most at risk as it is an arid, semi-arid and sub-humid region. (Korqin Sandy Lands)

Why are there desertification problems?

Physical:

1. High temperatures and strong winds
2. Sandy soils (highly permeable)=decreased water storage
3. Loosely structured (organic material)= increased erosion

Human:

1. Inappropriate farming practices (increased in the last 100yrs)
2. Population pressure (increased in last 100yrs)
3. Overgrazing
4. Clearing land for agriculture/timber
5. Increased irrigation (decreased water table)
6. Over-cultivated (increased deforestation)

Extent?

• China loses 5 billion tonnes of topsoil to erosion.
• Due to poor managed irrigation, 1 million km2 of land is saline.

Solution?

• To establish 350,000km2 of shelterbelt and plantation forests across North China by 2050.
• 3 main objectives:

1. To protect farmland and settlements from wind and water erosion.
2. To improve land management
3. To stabalise sand dunes and reclaim degraded land

• So far 130,000km2 have been planted.

Sustainable?

Social:

• Allows people to keep their way of life
• Boosts morale (government doing something)
• Trees are food crop, increased variety in the diet, healthier, increased Q.O.L
• Dust reduced in the air, increased health, decreased illness, increased Q.O.L

Economic:

• Crops are a source of income

Environmental:

• Makes climate less harsh by providing shelter, meaning the inter-connected food web is able to thrive.
• Shelterbelts modify micro-climates downwind.

Alternative?

Education:

• Emphasis on appropriate cultivation techniques. 
• Recycling of organic material in the soil.
• Integration of other crops.
• Planting specific tree species.

Sustainable management= It seeks to balance social, economic and environmental needs of a place.