Nerja Field Report

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GG1032/3: ReportGroup 9: 0901969

Alasdair Pinkerton

Investigating the Possibility of Social and Economic TensionsBetween British Expatriate and theIndigenous Population of Nerja,

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Contents Page :

Acknowledgements. Page 3

Chapter 1

Introduction

Background Information. Page 4

Aims. Page 6

Objectives

Chapter 2

Methodology

Interviews. Page 7

Land Use Maps. Page 8

Targeting private clubs. Page 8

Media. Page 8

Chapter 3

Results and analysis

British Expatriates. Page 9

Spanish Locals. Page 12

International Club. Page 14

Land Use Maps. Page 15

Chapter 4

Conclusion. Page 18

Appendixes. Page 20

Reference List. Page 29

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the members of my group for their contribution to

this project, as well as Alasdair Pinkerton for overseeing the project.

I would also like to give my thanks to all the people that gave up their

time to speak to us and provide us with the information in which this

project is built upon. I would also like to thank the Nerja Municipality

and Mike Doltan for setting up the town council meeting, which gave usthe opportunity to question council representatives and obtain extremely

useful population data.

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Introduction

Background information

Nerja is situated on the South Coast of Spain on the Costa del Sol 50km from Malaga.Originally Nerja was a traditional fishing town, but it also relied on growing sugar

cane and silk making. Tourism has now become the main economic industry for Nerja

as well as many other areas of the Costa del Sol, this is mainly due to the increase in

cheaper air travel since the 1970s. Figure 1.1 shows that the British expatriate

community is the largest in Nerja (contributing to 30% of Nerjas 22000 expatriate)

but that there are also many other nationality expatriates, for example there is a large

population of Argentines as many Argentines are eligible to claim Spanish

Nationality. (Data Sheet). Nerja now solely relies on the tourism industry to support

its economy, and so any fluctuations in the numbers of people visiting Nerja will have

a direct affect on its economy. The population of Nerja varies seasonally and in the

high season the population reaches between 15000 45000. Roughly an extra 30000

people visit Nerja each year, proving that it is increasingly popular with foreign

tourists. (Data Sheet). The pull factors for people to live in this part of Spain are the

climate as the Costa del Sol has a warmer sunnier climate, but also the way of life is

less hectic than in England and people really feel part of a community. People are also

attracted by cheap property prices; leisure activities and peoples tastes are catered

for. There is a large retirement community who have migrated to the Mediterranean

sun belt to live a better life with their savings. (OReilly, Anthony, Rodriguez)

With such a high and rising percentage of expatriates living in Nerja (Figure 1.2) this

lead us to want to investigate the possibility of social and economic tension between

the indigenous and expatriate population.

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Figure 1.1

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Population

UK

A r g en t i n a

G er m an

y

S w e d en

M or o c c o

F r an c e

I t al y

B el gi um

N or w a y

I r el an d

Nationality

Top 10 Nationalities Living in Nerja

Figure 1.2

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AIMSWe had to be specific with our aims, but we had to make sure that we did not jump to

conclusions before we had even started. Some draft ideas were, to find the social

tension in Nerja, or to investigate the economic tension in Nerja, however we realised

that by phrasing our aims this way we were stating that tension definitely exists. It

was important for us not to start the research project being biased as this could have

affected the way in which we interpreted the results. We felt that with such a large

proportion of the British expatriate population in Nerja unable to speak Spanish, that

this would possibly cause offence, or cause social and economic tensions, so we

moulded our aims to be able to answer that underlying theme. We decided that our

aims would be;

To investigate whether or not tension exists between British expatriates and

the indigenous community of Nerja.

To observe, if any, what the tensions are and understand why they occur.

To see if there is a social divide is evident in the economic distribution of

businesses.

By phrasing our aims in this specific way we felt that we eliminated any biasness and

that if we found our predictions were not correct then there our aims allow for that.

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MethodologyWe decided to use a range of techniques to obtain the information we needed to

successfully be able to answer our aims.

Interviews

We decided to conduct a number or informal unstructured interviews (Flowerdew,

Martin) in English with British Bar Owners, British Residents, British Magazine

Editors, Swedish Estate Agents, British Children and British Teenagers. We also

interviewed Spanish Bar/Restaurant/Shop Owners, Local Spanish Residents, Council

Members and Sports Organisers in Spanish. It was important for us to obtaininformation about the Spanish and Expatriate communities, so that we were able to

make comparisons between them. We felt that informal interviews were feasible

considering our limitations, but from previous interviewing experience in the area we

found that people were more honest and talked a lot more openly when they thought

they were only having a conversation rather then answering questions to a formal

interview. We would have liked to have conducted an organised focus group with

members of both communities, however a focus group takes a lot of pre organisation

and would not have been feasible for us in the time we had. We had Spanish and

English speakers in our group which meant that we could interview Spanish and

British people in an informal way rather then having to rely on a set questionnaire.

We did not feel the need to use questionnaires as informal interviews gave us the

flexibility to question any answers we were given, and to ask any other questions that

we thought relevant. We chose to rely heavily on interviews as much of our project is

down to the way people feel, however we had to be careful not to believe everything

we are told as people tend to be untruthful or exaggerate their opinions at times. This

meant that we could not guarantee the accuracy of our work but that we had to obtain

as much information as we could to be able to verify the information we had been

given.

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Land Use Maps

One way to determine if there was a social divide in the economic distribution of

businesses in Nerja was to create land use maps. We did this by looking at a map of

Nerja and deciding which streets were the most important to focus on, as due again tothe time limitation we could not map all of Nerja. We chose to map the area around

the Balcon De Europa and along Burriana Beach as these were the main tourist sites.

By using general observational and conversational skills we were able to look at the

economic use of each building and document the nationality of the owners and the

nationality of the clientele. With this information we were then able to create a map

showing the distribution of British owned properties in relation to the Spanish owned

properties and also whom they were catering for. We felt knowing who businesseswere targeting was important as it could indicate how well they are performing in the

current economic downturn.

Targeting private expatriate clubs

We also went to the International Club of Nerja to find out more about the

expatriate community and to find out about social integration. To gain access to

members of the club we had to phone the International Club to ask permission fromthe organisers or gatekeepers (Flowerdew, Martin), as we felt that it would have

been rude to just turn up and expect people to talk to us. It was extremely convenient

for us that the Clubs monthly raffle was being held on one of our research days and so

we were able to attend and talk many members at once. We were overt about why we

wanted to interview members of the club, however we were passive in the fact that we

did not become members ourselves.

Media

We thought it was important to make use of local media like the free daily

newspapers and magazines as there were a number of newspapers produced for

British Expatriates that gave us an idea of services available to British people. The

Internet was a key resource in helping us to compare the situation in Nerja to other

areas where social segregation has been an issue. It meant we could look at other case

studies and make comparisons and predictions.

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Results and AnalysisBritish Expatriates

We started out by approaching British people on the street and asking them a few

questions about their situation in Nerja. We then moved on to shop and bar owners to

make sure that we were targeting people who lived and worked in the area rather then

just tourists or part time residents. From our interviews we found to our surprise very

little evidence of tension towards Spanish people. We decided that it was important to

stay open minded and not to critisise the responses we had been given even if we did

not necessarily agree with what we were being told. When we asked questions about

the ability to speak Spanish, we found that very few people we interviewed spoke

Spanish. We were also surprised to see that the length of time people have lived in

Spain bared no correlation to how well or how little they spoke Spanish. We could not

predict who would and would not be able to speak Spanish, but we found the majority

of bar and restaurant owners we interviewed had a very low level of Spanish. We

assumed the language barrier would be an issue for most people, however we found a

common response to our question about it was that Spanish people like speaking

English. With this mind set it was clear to see why some people simply chose not to

learn Spanish, or used this as an excuse not to do so.

After interviewing more bar and restaurant owners it became more obvious to us that

the main tension was not between the British people and Spanish people, but between

British Business Owners.

We interviewed the editors of the British Sentinella Magazine, which is a magazine

aimed purely at British expatriates living in the Costa Del Sol. It is a monthly

magazine that caters for British humor, contains horoscope and gossip pages and it

also advertises British services and businesses in the Costa del Sol. The ownersSharon and Darren Taylor had recently moved to Nerja full time and told us, that to

their surprise after setting up their own magazine they are no longer welcome in

certain establishments and some people chose to boycott their magazine. Speaking to

especially new bars owners we found that becoming unwelcome in bars (especially

after people had been visiting Nerja for years and decided to set up their own bars)

very common. We spoke to the owner of Maxwells bar who told us that she was no

longer welcome at any of the bars across the street from Maxwells and the hostilitytowards her only started once she had set up her own bar. The owners of the

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Sentinella Magazine told us that competition is extremely high in Nerja and the

economic down turn is really affecting British expatriates and their businesses causing

a lot of economic and also social tension. We found that the majority of people we

interviewed openly told us about the local gossip, and were happy to give us their

opinions about other people or establishments. We saw very little evidence of people

trying to resolve these feuds, rather it seemed that people were encouraging them.

We then decided to interview children and teenagers to research the possibility of

tension between different generations. The owners of the Sentinella magazine were

extremely kind and let us interview their two sons Lee aged 7 and Dean aged 9

(Figure 1.3). The boys had been attending a private Spanish school in Malaga for

almost a year, yet both boys had completely different experiences to tell us. Lee had

learnt a lot of Spanish in one year and had made friends with mainly Spanish children

at school, this meant he socialised with Spanish children on the weekends and felt

completely integrated. Lees older brother Dean however had not integrated as well.

Dean could not speak any Spanish; he only had British friends and did not perform

well at school. He told us that the Spanish children bully him at school and that he is

not happy living in Spain. We asked the boys parents whether they felt the fact Dean

had not integrated was because he could not speak Spanish as well as his brother, and

they felt that this was the reason. The Taylors told us that the parents of the Spanish

children at the boys school do not speak to them or make an effort to make them feel

welcome. We then asked what efforts they were doing to integrate themselves with

the Spanish families and they simply laughed and said why would we want to

socialise with them? We found many adults we interviewed shared this level of

ignorance towards the need to integrate, however the children seemed to understand

why it was important.

(Figure 1.3)

We interviewed a number of British teens at the local bar street Tutti Frutti where

we found the level of tension to be the most significant. The main problems were

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between British and Spanish teens and could be a cause for future concern. One

sixteen year old girl we spoke to had lived in Spain for six years but could not speak

more then a few sentences in Spanish. She told us that there are certain bars in Tutti

Frutti that she will not go into as they are Spanish bars and if she goes in there she

will get beaten up by local Spanish teens. We then spoke to Alex a seventeen year old

boy who had lived in Spain all his life and was completely fluent in English and

Spanish. He was totally integrated into both the Spanish and British communities, but

he told us that on numerous occasions he has witnessed his British friends being

attacked often with bats by Spanish youths. We asked him why he does not

experience this level of violence himself and he said that he had been accepted

because people treated him like he was Spanish. We then asked why there is so much

tension between this age group and he told us that Nerja has a big gang problem, and

that racial violence is extremely common. A number of other teenagers we spoke to

told us that they spend a lot of their free time drinking as they find they get very bored

and that as soon as they can they want to return back to England, or to drop out of

school and work. This then raised the issue that jobs for young people could be

another source of tension. One young British man who had lived in Spain for 15 years

and now runs his dads restaurant said that he constantly gets verbally abused by

Spanish people because they feel that they cant get jobs, and because all the jobs are

going to British people. He also mentioned that with more and more British bars and

restaurants opening, it is increasing the level of competition and so many Spanish

people feel that they are losing money due to this.

Despite all of the responses we had been given we decided that it was important to

gain the opinions of Spanish people to be able to find out if what we had heard from

the British teens was true, or whether it was just their point of view.

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Spanish Locals

We already had a clear idea about the way British expatriates felt towards the

Spanish, and towards the relations between the two communities, but we needed the

views and opinions from Spanish people. We started by interviewing Spanishrestaurant, bar and shop owners to find out about competition with the British

businesses, however we found that everywhere we went we were getting the same

answers. The common response to our questions about competition was that there is

no competition and that Spanish businesses do not suffer from there being so many

foreign businesses in Nerja. We found this hard to believe as competition, whether it

be from British businesses or not would be an issue for any business, as it is quite

logical that the more restaurants and bars there are the more competition there is.

Everyone we questioned told us that they love English people living and visiting

Nerja and that they hope the exchange rate gets better so that more people will come.

We thought one reason no tensions or dislikes were mentioned to us was because so

many businesses rely on tourism and without British tourists many businesses would

fail. When we interviewed the owner of the Mena Market (a Spanish man who had

himself lived in England for a few years) the first thing we asked him was about

competition and again we were given the same answer about there being no

competition in Nerja. We decided to then change the topic of conversation to find out

how Spanish people feel about the lack of effort the majority of British people seem

to put into learning Spanish. When we brought this issue up with him, he simply

smiled at us and said, This is not an area of conflict, Spanish people have a culture of

service, and if this means helping someone who cannot speak the language then we

are willing to help. We like to speak English as it improves our communication skills

and means that we can attract more British customers by being friendly to them. It is a

shame that more British people do not try to learn the language like many other

foreigners have done, but this is the way it is and we rely on British tourists and

expatriates for the survival of our businesses and so we are not going to be unfriendly

in any way. He then made a comment that we found quite interesting because he

reversed the situation and said, however if a group of Spanish people went to

England and only spoke Spanish to everyone and refused to speak any English then

they would have a very hard time. When he first moved to England he told us that

he could not speak English very well, but he remembers that one man said to him

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You fucking foreigner learn English or get out of my country. He said that this is

just the English way, they know that everyone can speak English and so there is no

need for them to try another language. Although he had told us that the language

barrier was not a problem, he certainly sounded quite bitter about his experiences in

England, and that the English way was one of ignorance. He then continued to tell us

that he and none of his friends have any British friends, which we found was the same

for all Spanish people we interviewed.

We then decided that it was important to look more into social integration from

the views of Spanish people rather then just economic integration. We attended a

meeting at the Local Municipality and asked the representatives from the council

whether they believe that there are two separate social communities in Nerja, the

British and everyone else. They told us that this certainly was not the case and that a

lot was being done to integrate the communities through sport. We were told that

sport is extremely important in Nerja and that the council has put a lot of money into

promoting Nerjas sporting activities. We decided that it was important to visit the

local municipal sports centre and interview the managers to find out about the success

of the councils sport policy. We arranged a meeting with the Spanish manager who

told us that the British expatriates do not integrate at all! They have their own clubs,

teams and leagues and so do not take part in local sport. When we told them about

what we had been told at the council meeting, the manager told us this is not true, no

effort is being made to integrate the Spanish and British community through sport,

more effort is being done to develop the private sports clubs then to encourage social

integration. Other nationality expatriates socialize with Spanish people and attend our

sports programs so it is a pity that the Brits do not. We then e-mailed the council

with the question we had asked them, and the response we had been given from the

sports center, asking about the success of the sports integration policy, but we

received no reply. From this we could clearly see that the two communities have not

integrated at all socially but purely economically. However the majority of people

seemed to be content living with this level of separation and did not see it as a source

of tension.

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International Club

We wanted to gain access to a large number of British expatriates at a social event

and so we decided to contact the International Club of Nerja (Figure 1.4), where 99%

of members are British (of which 82% are of retirement age), to see if it was possibleto interview the organizers and some members. We were overt about our intentions

and the organizers and were extremely willing to participate in our research. They

showed us around the library that only contains English books, the main hall, the bar,

the social areas and the offices. Already by just looking at displays on the walls of

social trips and events, seeing only English books in the library and the membership

forms and leaflets all being in English we could see that they were catering for

English speakers. When we interviewed some of the members they all confirmed our

theory that they only socialized with other British expatriates and not one person we

interviewed had Spanish friends. With so little incentive to integrate it is easy to see

why so many people find moving and settling in an area like Nerja very easy. 75% of

members at the international club are over the age of 60 and so an environment where

they are surrounded by a close community of English speaking friends and activities

could be the reason so many of them chose this segregated way of life. When we

asked people if they would ever consider going back to England the usual answer we

got was, no this is like England, but with better weather and a better way of life. We

felt that clubs like this one are one of the main reasons the British community has not

integrated, purely because they do not need to.

(Figure 1.4)

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Land Use Maps

We wanted to produce land use maps to see whether British businesses are focused in

one particular area, which could indicate a social divide. We mapped Burriana Beach

and the Balcon de Europa and found a very distinct divide in economic land use. Wefound that on and around the Balcon de Europa the buildings and businesses are

nearly all owned by Spanish people (Figure 1.7) catering for mainly tourists and

locals (Figure 1.8). The majority of businesses in this area were restaurants, gift shops

and cafes, which is consistent with most areas targeting tourists. Along Burriana

Beach the Spanish mainly own the properties on the beachfront promenade (Figure

1.5) but the properties along the main street, set back from the beach, were mainly run

by British people (Figure 1.5). The Spanish owned businesses along the beach

promenade were again catering for tourists and locals (Figure 1.6), as all of the

businesses were either restaurants or cafes. The signs outside the restaurants were in

many different languages and the menus were all in at least three different languages.

When we went into the British run businesses, the majority of advertising was in

English and the services were predominantly aimed at British tourists and expatriates.

We felt that this was a rather closed outlook in terms of a target market, especially

considering the current economic climate. Many of the businesses were struggling as

you could see from all the reduction and sale signs in the majority of shop windows,

so by limiting their customer base to only British people they were already excluding

a large proportion of potential customers. Tourist levels are predicted to drop this

summer after an extremely poor winter season, which is going to affect all businesses,

especially business only catering to British people. With the Euro/Pound exchange

rate being so low, the tourism market will be the first hit in areas like the Costa del

Sol and so people relying on British tourists might struggle if tourist numbers remain

low.

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(Figure 1.5 shows nationality of properties along Burriana Beach)

(Figure 1.6 shows whom the businesses along Burriana Beach are targeting)

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(Figure 1.7 shows the nationality of properties at The Balcon de Europa)

(Figure 1.8 shows whom the businesses at The Balcon de Europa are targeting)

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ConclusionWe found this project extremely interesting to research, as the outcomes of the

research were not necessarily what we would have predicted. Overall there was less

tension then we had anticipated, but the tension we noticed was mainly between

British expatriates for economic reasons and the younger generations for lack of

integration. We felt that the tension between British business owners was not caused

by the current economic downturn, but that it is contributing strongly to the tensions.

From interviewing a number of different British expatriates we found out that many

tensions are long standing ones between the old generation expatriates who

remember Nerja as a small fishing village, and the new generation expatriates who

have moved to set up businesses. We often heard people say the people that have

moved to the area in the past 10 years are not the same quality of person as the people

who moved 20 years ago. They have moved for different reasons and are causing all

the problems with their businesses. Branding people with the names Old generation

and New generation is also a way of creating social divide. We also found that a lot

of the economic tension was between previous friends and that people were fighting

over customers, or for petty reasons such as setting up bars in the same street as a

friends bar. This sort of tension is not based upon racial reasons or social integration, but purely competitive reasons. The other area that we saw significant tension was

between the younger generations. This tension was based upon racial and social

reasons and is a more serious one for the future. If the young generation are growing

up with the views that we witnessed, then there is the potential for the currently

peaceful communities to in the future become laden with problems.

We saw definite evidence of two parallel communities in Nerja and saw little

evidence of anything being done to merge the communities. Currently people seemcontent with this way of life, by ignoring issues like racial tension and integration, but

how long can this contentment remain? We looked at cases of social segregation in

the UK and were interested to see that in Bradford 2001 there were extremely violent

race riots caused by social segregation, racial tensions and local authorities failing to

address that there were any issues. These were extremely similar to the issues we

found in Nerja. This quote found on the BBC website is extremely powerful in its

message, Segregation, albeit self-segregation, is an unacceptable basis for a

harmonious community and it will lead to more serious problems if it is not tackled.

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(BBC race). The Problem is that these fucking people are rubbish in their own

country and they come over here; they bring nothing except problems; they have no

interest in learning about our ways; they just live among own. (Guardian 2004) It is

already being recognised by Spanish people and maybe it is time the authorities took

notice as well. If tensions are left un-dealt with then there is the potential that a

situation like the one in Bradford could be repeated in the future. I feel that if the

deep segregation between the two communities continues and the local authorities fail

to address the causes of racial and social tension then there will be a threat of more

serious trouble in the future unless action is taken. Yet with migrant numbers rising

the problems start to occur sooner then later.

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Appendices

Restabal Channel Site

Evidence of Flood Flow

There is a range of evidence to suggest that the flood level within the section of river

examined is quite high. From data collated before the 2007 flood it is clear to see that

the channel is wider and deeper then it was before the flood, indicating that the flood

dramatically changed the profile of the channel. Sediment has since built up and there

is evidence of braiding, showing that erratic flow during the flood occurred, causing

the transportation and deposition of a large amount of sediment. The size of the

sediment set down was also seen to be far larger than that which would be found

before the flood occurred, showing that due to a high volume of water and a larger

velocity, larger sediments/rocks could be transported. We measured that the average

b-axis of the five largest clasts found in our section on the bed of the channel was

7.2cm; this shows that large pebbles and small boulders were moved by the flood.

The high flow raised the ground water, thus vegetation re-established itself. This

links to the deposition of sediment as the dense flora slows down the flow of the river

which reduces the ability of the river to transport sediment; therefore the process of

channel recovery means that the re-deposition of sediment occurs rapidly accounting

for the varying size of clasts now found in the stream. The reduction in flow also

leads to a reduction in erosion, which contributes to the channel regenerating itself.

There was also evidence of high flow in the vegetation present along the banks. The

area was once sparsely vegetated, however, since the flooding occurred new species

have been recognised, and these are much denser than the previous vegetation

recorded. Therefore, the high flow disturbed the preceding plant life. Further

evidence of the flood flow in relation to foliage and shrubbery is the draped debris

that can be used as an indicator for the flood level at the peak of the event. This was

seen on either side of the bank and gave an approximation of where the water rose to;

however, this is not an accurate way of measuring the peak flood flow so figures

should be treated with caution.

Other paleostage data indicating maximum depth of the river during the flood is a

water level line that can be clearly seen on the terrace by the river. Although the bank has been built up considerably since the flood, the nature of the ephemeral flash flood

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meant that soil from the slopes behind the river were transported as suspended

sediment, leaving an obvious indicator of the flood flow levels.

Overall the methods used to determine the flood flow discharge must be treated with

vigilance as results recorded are of an individuals judgement and estimation, thus are

not always accurate.

The channel cross-section diagram contains the

information for questions 1, 3, 4, and 5 .

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Restabal Slope Erosion SiteHydrological and erosion conditions

There is a range of evidence to suggest that there are hydrological and

erosional processes occurring at the site. The results from the infiltration

measurement of the soil show that the site had a low infiltration capacity, which

encourages high rates and frequencies of Hortonian overland flow. This occurs when

the precipitation rate exceeds the infiltration rate of the ground's surface, resulting in

the removal of topsoil, leaving the land vulnerable to rain and wind erosion. However,

rainfall could be intercepted by vegetation but the site had a relatively low vegetation

density; therefore the runoff could not be intercepted, increasing the effects of

erosion.

There was also evidence of rill and gully erosion. Gullies and rills are both

forms created by processes of hill slope erosion. Gully erosion occurs when water

accumulates in narrow channels and removes large quantities of soil. A rill is a

narrow and shallow incision into soil resulting from erosion by overland flow that has

been focused into a thin thread by soil surface roughness. Therefore, as the soil has a

low infiltration capacity with low vegetation density it encourages Hortonian overland

flow, resulting in rill and gully erosion occurring at the site.

One control of gully erosion is soil type. The soil at the site was compacted,

with a hard baked surface that can increase gully erosion. The soil texture was

classified as silt loam, therefore having poor cohesion. There was also presence of soil

crusting. Soil crusting arises from the rain breaking down the soil aggregates into

particles that cement into hard layers at the soil surface when drying occurs. This is

likely to occur due to the Mediterranean climate. The pentrometer readings of the soil

showed penetration resistance of the soil surface, most likely occurring from the soilcrusting.

The site was uncultivated suggesting that the hydrological and erosional

processes are occurring naturally. However, the site has concave topography, which

concentrates runoff, increasing the erosional effects. Nevertheless, hydrological and

erosional processes are likely to occur due to the climate of Spain. Summer drought

results in relatively low vegetation densities, exposing soils to rain splash erosion,

compaction and high runoff rates. Soils are therefore subject to potentially higherosion rates in the autumn under intense rainstorms, resulting in poor quality soils.

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Infiltration Data

Level Time Elapsed(Min/Sec)

Difference(sec)

Infiltration rate(mm/min)

0 01 2m 17' 137 4.380 2m 29'1 5m 57' 208 2.880 6m 02'1 9m 53' 231 2.590 9m 58'

14m 17' 255 2.350 14m 28' 11 18m 58' 270 2.220 19m 07'1 24m 14' 307 1.950 24m 24'1 29m 45' 321 1.870 29m 51'1 35m 10' 319 1.880 35m 19'1 41m 35' 376 1.60 41m 42'1 47m 00' 358 1.690 47m 06'1 52m 23' 317 1.890 52m 29'1 57m 46' 317 1.89

Environmental Change Day

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Facies Log Sheet

Our site of study was site C at the top of the cliff

From looking at the Facies log sheet we could identify three different sediment layers.

The deposits range in size from Pebbles to clay and each layer was moderately sorted.The larger clasts were in the first layer, which measured 0.75 meters. The clasts got

smaller in size in the middle layer, which measured 0.6 meters, and continued to get

smaller in the top later, which measured 0.3 meters. We measured to a height of 1.75

meters however we were limited to the height in which we could reach. From

measuring the direction of the deposits we were able to see which direction they were

layed down in. This gave us an idea about the movement or flow of sediment in the

past. The types of rock that we found were mainly Shist, Quartz with a number of bi-valve marine shells typically found in shallow seawaters in the top layer. The majority

of the rocks we found were Sub-Angular, Sub-Rounded and Rounded by looking the

average clast readings we made at the beach there is a strong comparison between the

rocks at our site and the rocks on the beach. This indicates that our site was once

affected by marine processes like abrasion and corrosion. However the exposed clasts

are now affected by weathering processes like physical, chemical and biological

weathering. The majority of erosion at our site is by root growth into cracks, and

oxidation as this weakens the rock. Over the past 125,000 years the land at our site

has risen by roughly 55 meters, and that the sea level used to be 6 meters higher then

the present day. This means that the site we were studying used to be a low-lying

beach, which would explain why we found marine fossils and rocks that have been

eroded by marine processes at the top of the cliff.

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Rural Day AppendixSustainable Community Strategy

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The crop harvest this year was particularly poor for the local farmers with the colder

than average winter affecting the amount of crop, as well as the production and timing

of the harvesting of the crops. The local fruit factories provide jobs for the local

people, especially the local women, as they are preferred to men in the factories as

they are more delicate with the fruit. The poor harvest means that less people will be

needed to work in the factories and therefore unemployment will rise in the rural

areas. Therefore, I would suggest a diversification of industry in the rural areas would

ensure that the communities remain sustainable. Firstly diversification of the crops

that are produced in the area, perhaps introducing more hardy crops that could

survive in an increasingly variable climate due to the impacts of global warming. Also

education is important to the rural communities as if they are unable to make a living

from the crops they may be able to get other work. Good transport links and

infrastructure are also crucial allowing farmers to move their produce around easily

and for rural communities to access markets, jobs and education. In addition, the

introduction of rural tourism to the area will boost the local economy. The area is very

picturesque with good weather so would be attractive as an eco-tourist retreat for

people looking to experience the real Spain. It is important however if the tourism

industry is developed that sustainable strategies are adopted in regard to aspects such

as the provision of water, a highly contested issue in the area. In addition, renewable

energy resources such as solar power and hydraulic power (from the local damn)

could be used in rural communities. Also recycling facilities would aid the waste

management of the area in order not to pollute the local area.

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Reference List

BBC race report, 2001

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1702799.stm , visited February 2009,

[Reference in text (BBC race) no date)

BBC report, 2001

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1703432.stm , visited February 2009,

[Reference in text (BBC), no date]

J.Parfitt, 2005, Methods in Human Geography; Questionnaire Design and Sampling, p100-101, Pearson Education Limited.

Nerja Tourist Office,

http://www.nerja.org/turismo_ing/index.php , visited March 2009,

[Reference in text (Nerja Tourist office), no date]

K.OReilly, Anthony, Champion, King, Rodriguez, 2000, The British on the Costa delSol, Routeledge

R.Flowerdew, D.Martin, 2005, Methods in Human Geography; Individuals that have

power to grant access, Pearson Prentice Hall, p116

Sentinella Magazine, http://www.thesentinella.com/ , visited February 2009,

Town Council Expatriate Population Data Sheet, [Reference in text (Data Sheet)]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1702799.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1703432.stmhttp://www.nerja.org/turismo_ing/index.phphttp://www.thesentinella.com/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1702799.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1703432.stmhttp://www.nerja.org/turismo_ing/index.phphttp://www.thesentinella.com/

Nerja Field Report

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