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\n By HERN\u00c1N MU\u00d1OZ and SUMAN NAISHADHAM<\/b> with AP<\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n Published on
\n 23\/07\/2025 – 9:23 GMT+2\n <\/p>\n
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Ana Garc\u00eda rents a shack at a beach just north of Barcelona every year, spending two months there in the summer with her daughter. <\/p>\n
But she fears summers by the sea in Montgat, about a 30-minute drive from central Barcelona, could eventually be numbered.<\/p>\n
Storms and sea level rise driven by climate change are eroding the man-made beaches in metropolitan Barcelona, with the sea swallowing swathes of coastline every year, authorities say. <\/p>\n
Compared to natural coastlines, man-made beaches erode faster. Montgat’s coastline has eroded especially fast, locals and authorities say.<\/p>\n
\u201cClearly, this is worrying,\u201d Garc\u00eda said. \u201cBecause it\u2019s increasing more and more, and shows no signs of stopping. Our coexistence with the sea here is in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n
From fishing town to summering spot<\/p>\n
The fishing town turned summer holiday spot is no stranger to change. Fishing was once the main economic activity in the \u201cMaresme,\u201d or marshlands, north of Barcelona. Everything changed in 1986 when Spain’s second-largest city was named the host of the 1992 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n
Where once there were just rocks, breakwaters and thin stretches of sand, several new beaches were constructed, helping turn the city into one of Europe’s premier tourism hotspots.<\/p>\n
Climate change is threatening that transformation in small coastal towns like Montgat by intensifying storms that erode the coastline<\/strong><\/a> and driving sea-level rise.<\/p>\n While authorities have responded by replacing the lost sand and building some breakwaters, the efforts haven’t kept pace with the coastline’s erosion<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Ramon Torra, manager of Barcelona’s Metropolitan Area, acknowledges that simply adding more sand isn’t enough.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we must do first isn\u2019t just replenish the sand, but rather stop the loss of it,” Torra said. \u201cIn the case of the \u2018Maresme\u2019 region here, we are talking about structures such as breakwaters because they confine the beach.”<\/p>\n How are storms eroding the coastline?<\/p>\n Europe<\/strong><\/a> is the world\u2019s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union\u2019s Copernicus Climate Change Service.<\/p>\n As the planet warms, sea levels rise, largely due to the melting of glaciers and the thermal expansion of seawater as it grows warmer. That increases the risk of coastal flooding and storm surges that lead to land loss.<\/p>\n