James Debono assesses the impact of rising sea levels caused by global warming, coupled with uncontrolled coastal development, on Malta’s popular swimming areas
Studies show that 21% of Malta’s coastline is covered by artificial development related to recreational, harbour or road development infrastructure.
Sandy beaches are very limited in the Maltese islands, constituting around 2.5% of the coastline. And while some have been added or extended artificially, some natural ones have been lost over the years: Xemxija bay being a prime example of the negative impacts of coastal roads on sandy beaches.
The built-up area of Xemxija and the southern part of St Paul’s Bay was developed along the coastline around a bay known as Ir-Ramla tal-Pwales.
This bay used to be characterised by a sandy beach with a salt marsh habitat developed behind it. Aerial photography dating to 1957 suggests that the sandy beach was not large compared to other sandy beaches like Ghadira. But a comparison with aerial photos of the same beach in 1994 showed that the beach had shrunk drastically.
One major factor leading to the erosion of the beach was the construction of the arterial road that provides an access route to the Northern Ferry terminal at Cirkewwa.
Moreover large concrete structures have been built to provide additional services for tourism and recreational purposes as well as for boat owners. Most of the bay is now used for boat mooring purposes. Consequently, most of the coastline has been altered through human intervention and replaced by vertical walls.
Balluta is another beach which disappeared over a 40-year period.
Is Ghadira facing extinction?
The 460-metre stretch of sand at Ghadira is easily Malta’s longest beach. But the transfer of sediment from the valley to the beach has been cut off by the construction of a road, and the cultivation of land between the valley and the beach.
Since there is no significant input of sediment, any loss of sand due to storms or human intervention can hardly ever be recovered.
The government has recently proposed relocating this road further inland with the pretext of saving the beach from erosion by reuniting it with the valley. Yet the few scientific studies conducted so far show that the issue could be more complex.
A regional impact assessment commissioned by the Sea Bank hotel – conducted by ADI Associates – claims that the Mellieha Bay area is exhibiting signs of severe environmental degradation, with threats from sand nourishment, barbecues, mushrooming kiosks, and the “looting of sand for construction and paving.”
The study refers directly to the vertical sea wall next to the Tunny Net complex by Sea Bank, which altered the sea currents in the area.
The existing road is also deemed to be affecting the sand budget, “starving the system [by] tampering with the flow of water and sediment.” It also claims the wetlands and dunes could be lost if the road is not relocated.
But the same report warns that the removal of the road, without proper knowledge of the dynamics at play and if undertaken without due caution, may result in the inland migration of the sand.
“A careful study of dune-specific dynamics is essential,” the study says.
The report states that although the road is blocking sediment input to the beach, it also inhibits the sand from being blown inland.
Another study commissioned by the Malta Transport Authority in 2005, and conducted by AIS, warns that building a bridge behind the Ghadira nature, as currently proposed by government, could have an unpredictable impact on wind currents in such a way that “the expected regeneration of sand dunes will never occur”
The report states that the removal of the present road could restore natural wind currents which deposit sand from the bay on the presently degraded sand dune.
However it goes on to add that “the proposed bridge structure, even though further behind the sand dunes, may have unpredictable effects,” which might inhibit the regeneration of sand dunes.
“Potentially this may cause the expected regeneration of sand dunes to never occur,” the report states.
It even claims that removing the road will increase human activity on the beach and “strict control will have to be exercised to protect the sand dunes from human activity.”
The study also questions the wisdom of past decisions which altered the Ghadira landscape, describing the Tas-Sellum development as a “very negative contribution to the scenic qualities of the bay” and the two hotels at either end of the beach as “eyesores”.
The report adds there are no studies that show the extent of beach erosion in Ghadira, meaning it is “not possible to make accurate predictions of the effect of each different option on the Ghadira beach dynamics and the rehabilitation of the sand dunes.”
A study Prof. Victor Axiak conducted for MEPA claims that the establishment of a protected nature reserve may have helped protect the Ghadira sandy beach from further erosion.
Biologist Andre Raine, BirdLife’s conservation manager, says the Ghadira road is potentially functioning as a form of coastal defence, protecting the ecologically important habitat of Ghadira, which is below sea level.
“By no means is it certain that removing the road would protect beach dunes or increase beach area. Detailed research needs to be carried to see whether removing the road would result in the beach moving further inland. This would have irreversible impacts on other protected habitats including the nature reserve.”
Xlendi Xlendi in Gozo is essentially a pebble beach mixed with fine sand brought inland from an underwater reservoir of sand in the bay itself.
According to a preliminary study by ADI consultants on a beach replenishment project, under natural conditions in autumn and winter the layer of sand which covers the pebbles in summer is either blown inland into the bamboo fields to form sand dunes or is swept back in the bay by the waves. The process in reversible in spring when the sand is blown back to beach from both directions.
In this way the beach is in equilibrium with pebbles in winter and sand in summer.
Yet this natural process has been obstructed by the construction frenzy around the beach which blocks the wind-borne transport of sand.
A torrent channel, which used to transport pebbles eroded from the valley, has also been paved over and filled.
In the mid-1950s considerable volumes of cobble stones and shingles were removed from the beach and dumped in a quarry or used for construction purposes.
The removal of these pebbles and the construction of a vertical wall around the promenade prevented the transport of underwater sand to the beach, as waves started hitting directly on the face of the wall.
Xlendi beach has been earmarked by MEPA for a replenishment project and an environment impact study is currently being carried out.
Sliema A report commissioned by the Sliema Local Council in 2007 conducted by Geotek Services, documents various threats facing the Sliema coastline.
The Fond Ghadir cove, a natural swimming pool and a favourite spot for young children, is particularly threatened by erosion. The square-shaped rock-cut baths, fed by water from channels linked to the sea, are also rapidly eroding. Waves have already partly eroded the rock-cut baths in Qui-Si-Sana, where the walls of the pool are mostly underwater.
The two pockets of sandy beach beneath the Carmelite convent at Exiles are set to disappear. The rise in sea level and more storms will increase the loss of fine sediments.
And according to the report, the rapid erosion of the coast is accelerated by the placing of concrete along the coast. “This reduces coastal friction of longshore waves, increasing the intensity of waves in Qui-Si-Sana,” referring to the Tigné area of the Sliema coast.
And according to the report, the practice of scarification – the cutting of rock outcrops, as happened beneath the Sliema tower to create a flat surface for parking cars – should be halted permanently.
The Gzira-Sliema coast, which was reclaimed from the sea by dumping building waste capped with concrete, lies just one metre above sea level and could also be susceptible to flooding. “This reclaimed area is liable to flooding during storm surges in Sliema Creek, which can result in the suspension of vehicle traffic along the coastal road.”
According to the report, the settlement of the reclaimed land has not been monitored since its construction, with the consequence of more serious flooding due to the rising sea levels.
In the near future people used to walking along Sliema’s continuous rocky coast will be forced to ascend to the overlying promenade at certain points, because the rising sea water will make walking along the coast impossible.
Global warming is expected to result in the rise of the sea level by a minimum of 2mm per year. The flooding of low-lying areas will result in a break in continuity of access along the coast. Global warming will also result in an increase in wave erosion and in the extent of the wash zone – the spread of the wave’s spray when it hits the coast.
“This will increase the area susceptible to salt weathering, resulting in more jagged terrain which is not favoured by tourists,” the report says.
Predicted temperature increase in the Mediterranean Sea due to global warming will result in greater atmospheric instability that may generate higher waves and more frequent storms. This will result in accelerated erosion near the Surfside area on Sliema’s promenade.
This process will produce shingle beaches in some areas, dramatically altering the nature of the seaside tourist attraction, while reducing sunbathing areas.
The report warned that the caves beneath the Ghar id-Dud promenade could collapse due to rising sea levels and storms, unless measures are taken to mitigate the.
“If collapse is sudden and during daytime or early night time, injury and loss of lives may result,” the report warns.
The report has revealed that the faulted coast along Ghar id-Dud is retreating rapidly by the dislodgement of boulders along joints and faults, affecting the stability of the Tower Road promenade.
The report also identifies other environmental threats, like five outfalls leaking sewage drains and rainwater into the sea. These outfalls are channelled into the sea by purposely built pipes from private establishments, which drain directly into the rocky coast or into the sea by ruts cut into the rock.
“In all cases the outfall areas are characterised by the growth of algae encouraged by water conditions normally associated with sewage water.”
Sea ladders must be added to the coast for bathers, but not located in “rip current” areas – the zones which have a strong, outward current that turn dangerous during rough sea and makes it difficult for bathers trying to reach the ladders. A case in point is the ladder located beneath the Exiles’ former Civil Service sports club.
The continuity of the coastal pathway has been earmarked as a priority, the report urges, calling for immediate attention to those areas where coastal continuity is threatened by erosion, and to consider the effects on the seabed’s geology and land settlement before any further reclamation down at the Sliema creek is even considered.
Ghajn Tuffieha Ghajn Tuffieha was subjected to development in the mid 1990s when a road was cleared along the clay slopes to provide access for the construction of a catering facility on the beach. The disruption caused to the clay slopes is still felt today with the wide channels created from the dislodged material.
In 1996 Ghajn Tuffieha Bay was afforded legal protection as an Area of Ecological Importance and an Area of High Landscape Value. As a scheduled property it is protected from further development whilst ensuring the continuation of traditional activities like agriculture.
Another threat is posed by fissures along the cliff face in front of the Ghajn Tuffieha tower – one of the coastal defence towers that encircle the coastline of the Maltese archipelago, dating back from the Knights of St John. The fissures along the cliff face cut across in front of the tower.
Global Warming Low-lying beaches like Ghadira could be entirely wiped out in less than 50 years unless some form of remedial measures are taken, climate change experts have warned.
One of the reports drawn up about climate change shows that the areas prone to inundation include Mellieha, the Ahrax peninsula, Xemxija, Salina, Ramla l-Hamra, Marsalforn, Dwejra, Marsascala, St Thomas Bay and areas around Marsaxlokk harbour.
Ironically, localities like St George’s Bay, Balluta, Xlendi and many areas around Grand Harbour would also have been subject to flooding, had they been left in their pristine state.
However, infrastructure works undertaken over the past 40-50 years have so radically changed the coastline or its approaches that as long as the change in sea level is as predicted, little or no flooding should occur.
Apart from changing the topography, climate could make Mediterranean summers too hot for tourists after 2020. This is one of the conclusions of a study published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism.
As temperatures soar across Europe, some northern Europeans travelling to Mediterranean beaches are finding the weather no warmer than at home. But this could only be taste of things to come.
“Those conditions will become more prevalent in future,” David Viner, a senior climate scientist at the University of East Anglia, warns.
Climate change could dramatically change the face of Maltese tourism in the next 20 years as traditional tourism flows are inverted with European tourists flocking to the UK to escape unbearably hot continental summers.
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