Building in coastal areas is increasing faster in Ireland than in every other EU state except Portugal, posing a threat to rare plants and animals.
Ireland also tops the EU league for population growth in coastal areas due to a boom in house building, says a report by the European Environmental Agency (EEA).
The Changing Face of Europe's Coastal Areas warns that parts of Europe's coastline are approaching the environmental "point of no return" due to rapid increases in building in coastal areas. Areas in the Mediterranean are among the worst affected due to a rapid acceleration in house building and the construction of recreation and tourism facilities.
However, over the past 15 years, Ireland has also experienced a huge increase in the use of coastal areas that is rivalled only by Portugal, says the report.
Development in coastal areas increased by 27 per cent between 1990 and 2000 in the Republic.
In Portugal, which topped Europe for coastal development, building of artificial surfaces grew by 34 per cent, while in Spain it grew by 18 per cent.
Building in coastal areas also increased rapidly in France, Italy and Greece. The report estimates that by 2004, the amount of built-up land on Europe's coast was 12 per cent above the level in 1990.
"The highest population increases have taken place in Ireland, and along the Atlantic rim in France, in some coastal regions in Portugal and on the Mediterranean coast of Spain and France," adds the report, which notes that people like to live in coastal areas, which often command higher real-estate values.
It cites several factors for increased building work along Europe's coasts, including a more affluent population, increased leisure and cheaper travel and climate change, which has resulted in the creation of more man-made coastal defences.
About two-thirds of Europe's wetlands (most of which are coastal) have been lost since the beginning of the 20th century, which cites the drainage of large tracts of peatlands in Ireland as one example. Development along the Mediterranean has created a "Med wall", where more than half the coast is dominated by concrete. Many rare plant and animal species are under threat due to loss of their habitat, says the report.
"To protect our coastal areas, we need to value them not as playgrounds or transport lanes with unlimited building, living, recreational and shipping potential, but as fragile systems that underpin landscapes and amenities at the core of many communities," said the executive director of the EEA, Prof Jacqueline McGlade, to mark the report's publication today.
The report warns there is an urgent need to find more sustainable forms of tourism and undertake more strategic spatial planning along Europe's coasts.
Global warming will also be an important factor in the future as sea levels rise and the risk of flooding increases. People are increasingly occupying low-level areas near the coast, increasing their vulnerability. Natural ecosystems provide the best defence against coastal erosion, but need to be given more space and time to recover for them to be effective, says the report.
The EEA is an EU agency dedicated to providing environmental information to the European Commission and member states.
Key findings:
- building work on the Irish coast grew by 27 per cent between 1990 and 2000;
- 80 per cent of ocean pollution comes from land-based human activities;
- 61 per cent of total land uptake by artificial surfaces in Europe was due to housing, services and recreation uses;
- global warming is causing a plague of toxic phytoplankton growth on coasts and wiping out marine organisms.