THE beaches of Spain could be underwater by the end of the century if global warming continues at its current rate.
In a hard-hitting report by Greenpeace, the environmental group shows how a large chunk of the country’s coastline would disappear as the sea would come half a kilometre inland.
All this will have happened by the end of the 21st century and, although few adults alive today are likely to see it, a baby born this year would be 86 by the time tourist hotspots such as Marbella and Benidorm have vanished under the waves.
And every time the sea-level rises by one centimetre as a result of global warming, a metre of beach disappears, Greenpeace reveals.
Their shocking report is titled Spain: Heading for extreme climate. Risks of not stopping global warming and the destruction of the Arctic.
Spain’s branch of Greenpeace, led by Pilar Marcos and Mario Rodríguez, have petitioned Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to avoid agreeing to any exploitation of the Arctic.
Rajoy’s government has already considered the business opportunities for fishing and transport that the North Pole could present.
The environmental charity wants the Arctic to be left as a ‘sanctuary’, with no drilling for oil or gas and no fishing.
There is not much time left to make decisions in this respect, Greenpeace warns. According to Marcos and Rodríguez, the Arctic is melting at twice the rate of the rest of the planet, and has lost enough ice in the last four years to cover mainland Spain three times over.
