Europe loses green spaces that once hosted wild animals, stored carbon and provided food at a rate of 600 football stadiums a day, as revealed by a Guardian and its associates.

The analysis of satellite images throughout the United Kingdom and mainland Europe for a period of five years shows the speed and scale with which green spaces become gray and are occupied by asphalt, bricks and cement for roads, luxurious golf stadiums.

The loss of the Amazon rainforest has been measured for years by the use of satellite images and on -the -spot surveillance, but so far the scale of the loss of green land in Europe has not been recorded in the same way.

In its first research throughout Europe, the Green to Gray program, in collaboration with scientists from the Norwegian Nature Research Institute (Nina) to measure nature loss, reveals the scale of nature and agricultural land flooded by human interventions.

The Guardian’s cross -border program, Arena for Journalism in Europe (Arena), Nina, Norwegian NRK and other news broadcasting in 11 countries found that Europe loses about 1,500 square kilometers (580 square miles) per year due to construction. According to data, about 9,000 square kilometers of land – an area equal to the size of Cyprus – were converted from green to gray between 2018 and 2023. This is equivalent to almost 30 square kilometers a week or 600 football fields a day.

Nature is responsible for most of the losses, with about 900 square kilometers a year, but research shows that we are also building on farm areas at a rate of about 600 square kilometers a year, with serious consequences for food safety and health of Epirus.

Steve Carver, a wilderness professor at the University of Leeds, said: “Loss of land due to development is one of the main factors of wildlife loss and biodiversity reduction. But we also lose arable land and productive land, as our cities are expanding to the green zone and agricultural land. “

The most common developments, representing one quarter of all cases, concerned the construction of houses and roads. However, nature and agricultural land are also destroyed to serve the wishes of the rich, tourism, consumerism and industry.

Portugal

Arena revealed that in Portugal, nearly 300 hectares (740 acres) from protected sand dunes on Galé beach near Melides, one hour south of Lisbon, have been lost to create a new golf course at Costaterra Golf and Ocean Club, where the property will be sold for about 5.6 million.

The resort, still under construction, is the second residence of Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, who works to develop the project. It is built on Natura 2000 land, which is supposed to be protected by EU regulations.

The resort promises “the mere luxury of European life” on the “last untouched Atlantic coast in southern Europe”. The 75 -hectare golf course is estimated to consume up to 800,000 liters of water a day to maintain stadiums.

Exceptions from growth in Natura 2000 areas can be granted if there is a superior public interest. The Portuguese authorities have approved the resort, which belongs to the US Real Estate Company Discovery Land Company, on the grounds of economic benefit.

Ioannis Agapakis, a lawyer of Clientearth, an NGO dealing with environmental law, said a golf course does not meet these conditions. “Obviously it is not a superior public interest,” he said. “The simple fact that a project offers economic benefits or some kind of economic growth does not make it a superior public interest.”

Discovery Land Company said in a statement: “We are developing Costaterra with the aim of being a model of environmental management and viability in the region. Each aspect of the property – from the design of the golf course, to the practices of rainwater and waste management, to the development and preservation of the wildlife ecosystem and corridors – was designed to meet or exceed EU standards, including Natura 2000.

“We will continue to innovate and find solutions to make Costaterra the most responsible property of its kind,” he adds.

Brooksbank was approached by the Guardian, but made no comment.

Turkey

In Turkey, the Çaltılıdere wetland in the province of Smyrna, on the Aegean coast, has been buried under more than one square kilometer of concrete foundations for a luxury yacht repair and manufacture, as the research shows.

Officially designated as a wetland by Turkey, Çaltılıdere was the Flamingo house, pelican, cormorants, sea bream and sea bass. It also served as a vital carbon warehouse and natural flood protection.

However, local authorities overturned its protection regime in 2017, following a tense and controversial meeting of the local committee. Satellite images show how the vital station for migratory birds has been destroyed by concrete foundations.

Yatek, the industrial cooperative company that develops Marina’s project, claims to bring enormous economic growth and thousands of jobs to the region. “The richest people in Turkey and the world will bring their big yachts here to repair or build them,” the former Yatek director said in an interview in 2021.

The company stated in its announcement that its work is “a fully compliant initiative that strictly follows all legal procedures, including the environmental impact evaluation report”, a document describing in detail the impact of a project to grant authorization in accordance with EU law.

“The environmental impacts and other ecological aspects of the project have been evaluated in detail by the competent authorities of our country, which have issued a positive decision. Consequently, the entire process of the project continues legally and in accordance with the relevant legislation, “the statement said.

Turkey, the largest country in the analysis, occupied the highest position in the quantity of green land lost between 2018 and 2023. It built 1,860 square kilometers of arable land, representing more than one -fifth of the total loss in Europe.

Greece

But developments are running throughout Europe. In Vermio in Northern Greece, defined as an area of ​​wildlife without roads in Greek law, a large wind farm is growing in the areas of Western and Central Macedonia.

According to Aer Soléir, based in Dublin, the owner of the Vermio Aeolian Parks, the plans are fully aligned with the current Greek and European regulatory frameworks. He said that the development had “secured, during a long demanding planning and licensing process, all the required licenses and approvals” and added: “The project was examined twice by the Supreme Administrative Court. In both cases, the relevant cancellation lawsuits were rejected and the court confirmed the full compliance of the project with the environmental and regulatory framework. “

The company also said that a number of reforestation work was carried out alongside the construction.

Germany

In Germany, half a million trees were logged near Berlin to develop a Tesla plant, after the government approved a plan to expand the plant to double production in 1 million cars a year.

The methodology used in the “Green to Gray” study differs from the official method used by the European Environment Agency (EEA), which excludes areas of less than 50,000 square meters, equivalent to about five football stadiums. Research has identified minor, fragmentary losses in nature, as well as constructions in urban green areas, resulting in estimates of 1.5 times greater than EEA calculations, showing the overall impact of small -scale cumulative losses.

The analysis was carried out in 30 countries, covering 96% of the area of ​​39 ESA countries. Each examination country loses natural and agricultural areas, but some are getting worse than others. The five countries with the highest green losses were Turkey, with more than 1,800 square kilometers of green and arable land being lost between 2018 and 2023, Poland (over 1,000 square kilometers), France (950 square kilometers), Germany (720 square meters).