Recreation and conservation of the coastal environment of the Madeira Islands

Abstract

Madeira and Azores are Atlantic archipelagos where volcanic islands present very high cliffs connected to abrasion platforms, most of them carrying skerries, stacks and small islets, which collectively demonstrate the retreat of the cliffs. Because the beaches are few and largely of dark shingle, the strong pressure for coastal recreation is turning to the use of abrasion platforms for swimming sites. These abrasion platforms may be totally transformed by construction of elegant swimming pools, or they may be semi-natural, enclosed by barriers tied to offshore stacks, so as to shield the areas from the ambient wave energy. This type of coastal reclamation has two contradictory consequences on the environment. The structures protect the cliff against wave erosion, although they are sometimes destroyed by the south-westerly storms, but, at the same time, they disturb the flora and the fauna that depend upon the salt spray. In all of the islands, swimming pools are more frequent on the southern coasts, where the sea and climatic conditions are favourable to very high densities of population and touristic activities. Where they exist, the beaches are also disturbed by the impact of roads, bridges and houses. At Porto Santo Island, the only island where inshore dunes exist, the dunes are protected but their inland sediment source is affected by the airport and other touristic and military land uses.