‘The sea came in and took it all away’: the Colombian beach resort facing a ‘public calamity’

One night in February, Antonio Villamizar was woken up suddenly in the small hours by a phone call. “Hurry up, your restaurant is being swept away,” he was warned. He jumped out of bed and rushed with his sons to his beachfront restaurant, only to find that it had gone.

The rising seas had destroyed the two-storey wooden building, dragging plastic chairs and tables out to sea, bringing down walls and ruining the kitchen.

“The sea came in and took it all away. I lost it completely,” says Villamizar, known as Toño. “It made you want to cry.”

Despite the frustration, it came as no surprise to Villamizar. In the 12 years of owning his restaurant on Palomino beach in the Guajira region on Colombia ’s Caribbean coast, he has had to rebuild and move it 10 times because of rising sea levels and coastal erosion.

Since last December alone, he has had to relocate four times; his rebuilt restaurant sits on an estuary where the Palomino River meets the Caribbean Sea. In recent years, two fellow restaurateurs have been forced to close due to damage caused by the erosion.

“We are losing the beach very, very quickly. We are scared of rebuilding; it’s worrisome to lose money again,” Villamizar says, standing among his restaurant’s red plastic tables crowded with customers. “But we must keep rebuilding and finding new ways to keep fighting, as much as the sea will let us, because this is our livelihood.”

The entire coastline of Palomino, a laid-back beach town, is on the frontline of Colombia’s battle against erosion.

Storms and the relentless battering by the waves naturally contribute to the problem, but have been made worse by the rising sea level, a consequence of the climate crisis. In addition, human activities – such as deforestation, urbanisation, housing developments, walls and breakwaters – have aggravated the problem.

An independent 2022 study of coastal changes in Palomino between 1985 and 2020, estimated that the shoreline retreated about 20 to 30 metres every 10 years, but the process appears to be speeding up. In the past 10 years, it has receded by between 47 and 50 metres along almost four kilometres of beach, according to the state’s maritime authorities .

Palomino is one of Colombia’s most attractive beaches and the town has become a popular destination with backpackers and families. The long stretch of fine sand is flanked by tropical forests and punctuated by palm trees, set against the backdrop of the Sierra Nevada mountains, and hosts a string of friendly beachfront hostels and restaurants.

Yet, the impact of coastal erosion is visible everywhere. Headless palm trees pepper the shoreline, progressively falling into the sea. In 2021, the situation became so severe that local government authorities declared it a “public calamity” , urging the state to intervene.

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Palomino’s beach is broken up by a series of makeshift concrete barriers and sandbags built by hotel and restaurant owners to protect their businesses – many of whom have already lost properties to the waves. However, these improvised structures in fact contribute to the problem, say experts.

Nerlis Vergara, manager of the Finca Escondida hotel and restaurant on Palomino beach, says: “We are in a permanent state of emergency. We tried to put up some walls, but they didn’t work at all. We can’t afford to wait so long because we’re being very badly affected.

“It’s a series of investments that offer no guarantees and are often frowned upon because they are not pretty. We’re aware that, environmentally, it’s not the best either, but we have to protect ourselves. We’re just trying to survive.”

Over the past five years, Vergara has lost two bars and beach volleyball courts. The hotel used to host weddings on the beach – its biggest source of revenue – but was forced to stop in recent years due to the lack of space. Now, waves slap against the hotel’s concrete walls while the guests’ sun loungers are balanced on piles of sandbags on improvised platforms.

According to the Colombian Institute of Environmental Studies , sea levels along the country’s Caribbean coast could rise by 9-12cm by 2040, 16-22cm by 2070 and 23-32cm by 2100.

Juan Manuel Díaz, the director of Fundación MarViva Colombia , a conservation group, says that the rhythm of the tides naturally reshapes the coastline. “Coastal erosion is a natural phenomenon. It’s a constant, and there is no way to stop it,” he says. “But it is also obviously related to climate change.”

The environment ministry, which has been working alongside the Netherlands government to help adapt to and mitigate coastal erosion since 2012, has identified 104 priority erosion points on Colombia’s coasts.

People in Palomino criticise a lack of state support at a regional and national level. The state has promised to build several protective barriers along the coast, though the project has been held up by bureaucracy and changes in local government.

“It is impossible for a municipality such as ours to resolve this problem. The national government needs to look more seriously at the Caribbean coast situation,” says Odacir Ospina, secretary of Dibulla municipality, which Palomino lies within.

The National Unit for Disaster Risk Management, the government body responsible for the issue, did not reply to requests for comment. The environment ministry said: “We are carrying out actions to solve this problem, such as participatory ecological restoration in four coastal municipalities of La Guajira to minimise the pressure on the mangroves and beaches of Palomino.”

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People say the inertia of the authorities has left Palomino in limbo, living on borrowed time. “We are on our own. Nobody has helped us,” Villamizar says, adding he has considered leaving the area.

He says that if the situation doesn’t change, he will only be able to operate for another three years. “I don’t see the light of hope,” he says.

Díaz is equally bleak, as livelihoods are on the line. The retreat of coastlines poses a risk to thousands of people who depend on tourism. “Either we adapt or move elsewhere. In other words, I think the investment required to address the problem is not worth it, and that’s why the government doesn’t see it as its priority,” he says.

At a meeting last month between business owners and the Dibulla authorities, the municipality’s secretary for tourism, José Silva, acknowledged it was “no secret that the recent tourist seasons in Palomino have not been very good and the flow of visitors is not what it used to be”, though he added that they had “not forgotten Palomino”.

As the coastline and its tourism opportunities recede, many people face a precarious and uncertain future. Leison Jiménez, a surf instructor and national bodyboard champion, says erosion has “drastically” affected his life. “If there is no beach, there is no work, and I’d have to seek alternatives elsewhere,” he says. “We cannot fight against the tide.”