Bringing back lost beauty

In the past eight years, there has been a tendency in southern Europe to restore degraded areas. – In Costa Brava, the 30- and 40-story hotels (which were losing customers rapidly) that dominated the coastline are being demolished in order to restore the coast’s lost beauty and its economic value. – Outside Perpignan, in southern France, there used to be a huge wetland that was drained in the 1950s and turned over to cultivation. Now, it is being restored to its former state so that it can again become a natural habitat. – In Tarragona, south of Barcelona, agricultural land is under pressure from second homes. Efforts are under way to reintroduce the traditional crops grown there, which had been replaced by new ones that were unsuccessful and eventually abandoned, in the hope that the revival of agricultural activities can control and keep building pressures at arm’s length.