The Minister for the Environment has described intervention on the Algarve’s crumbling cliffs as “incredibly urgent”, insisting that coastal safety is amongst the Government’s top priorities.
Speaking in Albufeira on Tuesday, 3rd March, the Minister for the Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, said the stabilisation of the region’s cliffs was an “urgent” priority to ensure safety along the coastline.
The intervention follows a marked worsening of erosion caused by recent storms and forms part of what she described as “necessary and incredibly urgent projects to guarantee the safety of those visiting our beaches”. She was addressing journalists on the sidelines of a visit to several beaches in the Algarve municipality.
Maria da Graça Carvalho toured Praia Maria Luísa and Praia do Peneco to assess the damage inflicted by the storms that battered mainland Portugal between late January and the first weeks of February. She revealed that the destruction stretches from Moledo, in the municipality of Caminha, in the Viana do Castelo district, all the way down to Vila Real de Santo António, in the Faro district.
However, she stressed that the Algarve is the region facing “the greatest problems with cliffs and the most complex cases”, following weeks of heavy seas, torrential rain, and strong winds.
The minister disclosed that the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) is finalising a full inspection of the coastline. Its conclusions, along with the necessary project proposals, are due to be presented “within eight days”, on 11th March, in Porto.
During the visit, she also heard concerns from the Mayor of Albufeira, Rui Cristina, about the urgent need to safeguard the large rock formation on the beach that gives Praia do Peneco its name. Cracks have been detected in the outcrop.
According to the mayor, the rock “poses a danger and could collapse at any moment”, prompting the establishment of a safety perimeter to prevent the public from approaching.
“It is something deeply symbolic, an emblematic rock that represents Albufeira. We will do everything to preserve it,” he said, adding that a technical or construction solution would be sought from APA and the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC) to protect it in the best possible way.
The minister confirmed she would request support from LNEC to “assist in a decision” regarding the rock’s future, underlining that such complex interventions are ultimately aimed at “guaranteeing the safety” of beachgoers.
Maria da Graça Carvalho explained that the Ministry’s coastal strategy is structured around three avenues of intervention, each with different levels of priority: cliff safety, beach replenishment through sand infill, and medium-term structural projects requiring environmental impact assessments.
Short-term measures include preparations for the bathing season, such as cliff stabilisation, small- and medium-scale beach nourishment works, and the repair of boardwalks, points she also highlighted during a visit to Praia de Faro earlier that morning.
“The aim is for these works to be completed before the start of the bathing season, using rapid and flexible funding mechanisms,” she added.
Larger structural projects, involving more extensive interventions and environmental impact studies, are expected to be ready only in time for next year’s bathing season.
“We must act, and it must be done properly,” the minister reiterated, noting that although the Algarve faces the most complex cliff-related challenges, the APA’s monitoring is “continuous and systematic across the entire national territory”.
She further indicated that works to reinforce sand levels on some of the country’s “most emblematic beaches” are expected to begin between May and early June.
On Monday, speaking at the first Fórum Mar Portugal, Graça Carvalho argued that Portugal should take the lead in the protection and economic valorisation of the oceans.
Source: LUSA
