One individual crossing a dune, stirring just a minimal amount of sand, will have an impact on the environment. But this will be negligible, of no consequence. Hundreds, thousands of people crossing a dune on a regular basis will have a major impact, to the point - potentially - of killing the dune.
An overcrowding of Mallorca's natural spaces, such as dunes and beaches, is commonly associated with mass tourism. But Francesc Xavier Roig, a doctor of geography and geology, has highlighted a case where environmental harm as a result of the actions of too many people owes very little to tourism.
In S'Estanyol (Llucmajor), as he points out, most beachgoers are residents, and their presence is relatively recent.
"Until about ten years ago, almost no one went to this area, and those who did were almost all locals. The increase in people has been significant, and as the beach is very narrow at a particular point, people lie on the sand of the dune. Others seek shade on the upper part, where there are pine trees. This causes damage because it pushes the sand downwards, which ends up killing vegetation."
It's common to see children sliding from the top of the dune. In the process, kilos of sand held in place by the roots of the vegetation are moved. The actions of the children, mostly all beachgoers come to that, can seem harmless. But there is an erosive effect.
The dune has been emptied, as though it were a quarry, and some pines trees have their roots exposed. "There is a tendency to believe that the messages we send about our individual impact are alarmist, because they are hard to imagine, but as seen here, they have very real effects."
The constant clearing of the dune adds sand to the narrow beach, but it never consolidates due to various environmental factors. The bottom of this entire area is rocky, and currents prevent sediment from settling on the bed. The dune rests on a rocky outcrop, which is what will remain when the sand is reduced to a minimum. A natural process unchanged for centuries can be destroyed in just a short time.