The modern concept of Nachhaltigkeit (sustainability), which originated in the 17th century in German legal texts on forestry management, has today been transformed into a vision that often perpetuates a “business as usual” model without genuinely addressing the underlying unsustainable practices.

The climate crisis in the Balearic Islands, with its effects such as drought, has increased the need to resort to desalination plants, which in turn discharge brine that negatively impacts marine biodiversity. The use of desalination thus becomes both a cause and consequence of a complex cycle where human actions and natural phenomena continuously feed into each other, creating a system of interdependence that is increasingly difficult to manage.

Nevertheless, this transformation has resulted in an amorphous and diffuse connection between local and global scales, terms, and casualties that complicates the understanding of the long-term effects of climate change in places like Mallorca. The loss of biodiversity along the coasts, such as the degradation of Posidonia oceanica, known as the “lungs of the Mediterranean” for its ability to generate oxygen and absorb CO₂, is just one of the many manifestations of these complex interactions, where the boundaries between cause and effect blur, and local impacts intertwine with broader global processes. Due to rising temperatures, ocean acidification, and the collapse of polar ice caps, Mallorca is now facing sea-level rise, which is causing significant erosion on its beaches and salinisation of its aquifers. Furthermore, extreme phenomena such as prolonged droughts, wildfires, and torrential rains are negatively affecting the island’s ecosystems, contributing to desertification in certain areas and the eutrophication of lakes and reservoirs, further threatening the viability of its fragile insular ecology.