The rise in energy costs and the climate crisis put Eivissa's tourism at risk

PalmThe environmental group Friends of the Earth has warned that the global energy and climate crisis already has direct effects on Ibiza and compromises the current economic model based on tourism. Coinciding with Earth Day, the organization has released a statement pointing out that factors such as international instability —aggravated by conflicts like those in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz— are already impacting transportation and tourist bookings.

According to the entity, the increase in the cost of fuels such as diesel and kerosene will not be circumstantial, but structural, which can have direct consequences on mobility and the cost of tourism. In this regard, it warns that the planet has surpassed several environmental limits and alerts to a scenario marked by rising prices of food and desalinated water, as well as the risk of economic recession and inflation in Europe, factors that could particularly affect mass tourism.

At the local level, Friends of the Earth identifies four main threats. On the one hand, the increase in sea temperature and acidification endanger the posidonia meadows, key to the marine ecosystem. On the other hand, it points to the increase in extreme phenomena, such as heatwaves and DANA events. It also alerts to the loss of biodiversity, with a special impact on the Ibiza lizard, and to the growing pressure on land due to urban development.

The organization maintains that over-urbanization reduces the island's capacity to absorb carbon, recharge aquifers, and regulate temperature, and warns that this process hinders the transition towards an agroecological model. Faced with this scenario, it considers that the “end of energy abundance” is becoming evident and defends the need for a change of model based on tourist de-growth and economic diversification.

Finally, the entity urges administrations to incorporate these risks into strategic planning and calls on society to reorganize at a local level in the face of a context it describes as “no normality”.