The waterfront of João Pessoa, capital of Paraíba, should undergo an intervention to expand the strip of sand on four beaches in 2022. This is what the city hall plans, inspired by the works carried out in Balneário Camboriú (SC) this year.
The measure planned by the municipal administration of João Pessoa takes place in the wake of a national phenomenon of shortening the sand strips due to coastal erosion, a natural process caused by sea water modifying the coast.
Since 1985, Brazil has lost 15% of its beaches and dunes, one of the consequences being the constant emergence of works to protect the coast. The survey was carried out by the MapBiomas project, which is made up of specialists to monitor ecosystems.
The organization also points out that Brazil has lost 15% of its coastal area in the last 36 years. The number was influenced by pressure to create real estate projects and extract salt.
The announcement of João Pessoa’s intention to expand the shore was made by Mayor Cícero Lucena (PP) in September.
Technicians from the city of João Pessoa have been preparing preliminary studies in partnership with the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB) to define how the project will be carried out.
The forecast is that the work on the edge of the capital of Paraíba begins in the second half of 2022. In the current phase, the city hall prepares grounds for requesting environmental licenses and then proceeds to the publication of bids.
According to the João Pessoa Planning Secretariat, the four intervention points have already been defined: Ponta do Seixas and Cabo Branco, Manaíra and Bessa beaches.
The municipal administration still does not have an estimate of how much the works will cost the public coffers.
In the case of Balneário Camboriú, the execution plan for the current project was funded by a group of local businessmen and the work, estimated at R$ 66 million, was made possible through a loan from Banco do Brasil.
The maritime coast of João Pessoa is marked by the presence of inlets and coral reefs, in addition to having the most eastern point in the Americas, Ponta do Seixas. The location is the closest to Africa in the entire American continent.
“Ponta do Seixas has been attacked by the sea, the wind, the rains and this is current, old. There has already been a substantial retreat from this point, up there there is even a lighthouse opened in the 70s and the distance from it to the tip of the The barrier was enormous. Today, it is very close,” says the municipal secretary of Planning, José William.
“I think that we cannot leave a touristic and geographic point like this, a heritage, that will fall and we will keep observing this type of action”, he adds.
To meet local particularities, the impacts for urban residents are also assessed by the city.
The expectation of the municipal administration is of positive impacts already during the execution of intervention services in the sand strip.
“I’m not afraid of the future judgment of this action. I foresee a positive impact immediately after or even during the course of the actions”, says William.
For geologist Fábio Pedrosa, a professor at UPE (University of Pernambuco), interventions to widen the beaches have more positive than negative effects. But as long as there is prior planning with environmental studies.
“Of all the coastal works intended to contain the advance of the sea, the widening of the sand strip is one of the most interesting. It causes environmental impacts like any coastal work. But within the interventions to contain the advance of the sea and recover the strip of sand this is the most interesting sand”, he says.
“The ecological characteristics of the area will define the consequences. Environmental studies will have to look, for example, at the spawning of turtles. It is important that the environmental society and organized civil society accompany this intervention”, he emphasizes.
In Balneário Camboriú, for example, the sudden movements in the seabed to shift the sand strip may have been the cause of the appearance of sharks in the region.
While several coastal cities show neglect with the natural beauties, João Pessoa is considered a reference among specialists in the subject for, over the years, preventing its original characteristics from being damaged. One of the mechanisms, for example, was the limitation of the number of floors for building constructions.
“João Pessoa is a reference in the care of this ecosystem. But there are natural changes on the beaches themselves. And now the expansion of the shores is occurring due to coastal erosion, a worldwide phenomenon. Especially on the more densely occupied coasts. This takes part of the sand,” says Fábio.
The artificial fattening of beaches, a term used by environmentalists, tends to become frequent nationwide, according to the geologist. “If not, we’ll run out of beach.”
However, Fábio Pedrosa warns that one of the possible impacts will occur at the site that will be used to extract the sand to be transported to the four points on the João Pessoa shore that will receive the expansion works in the future.
“There may be changes in the issue of dredging and in the turbidity of the water, for example. The main negative impacts will occur where the sand is going to be extracted. The impact study will have to indicate to the environmental agency where this removal will take place”.
“The turbidity can change, that is, the visibility of water, more or less turbid. This factor is related to photosynthesis”, he warns.
The tendency is for the environmental studies prepared by UFPB to even observe the average size of the sand grains before they are transported to the four beaches that will undergo intervention.
There is no definition by the City Hall of João Pessoa on the location that will serve as the supply bank for the sands. Generally, shipments are transported from other beaches with a greater supply of the resource or moved from the bottom of the sea.
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