The battle for Jericoacoara - Fighting to preserve a wind sports paradise
by WingFoil Racing World Cup 13 Dec 08:22 NZDT
A WingFoil Racing World Cup in paradise © IWSA media / Robert Hajduk
What is the definition of paradise? As co-owner of Vila Kalango, Marco DalPozzo, points out, one of the original definitions of paradise is 'a protected garden'.
In the modern world of international tourism, is it possible to maintain tourism whilst protecting the garden of Jericoacoara? Over the past 25 years this small village - set in the magnificent sand dunes of northern Brazil - has become increasingly popular, both for good and for ill.
DalPozzo himself was one of the original overseas tourists, an Italian who was sent to Sao Paolo more than 30 years ago to work for a multinational company. A keen windsurfer, when his Brazilian girlfriend and future wife, Morgana Masetti, introduced him to the windy paradise of 'Jeri' back in 1995, it was instant love.
Windy village
One of the earliest pioneers of bringing windsurfing to Jeri, DalPozzo has seen the village become a Mecca for many forms of wind-powered watersports, with windsurfing later followed by kiteboarding and more recently by the new wave of wingfoiling.
This was the third consecutive year that the world's best riders came to Vila Kalango to compete in the Sol WingFoil Racing World Cup Brazil. While the main focus was very much on the competition, to see who would win the event and who would win the 2024 World Championship, there were other issues at stake. "We need all your help to preserve Jeri," DalPozzo's business partner and co-owner, Paolo Piatti, told the competitors at the opening ceremony in Vila Kalango in early December. "You have your influence, your credibility as riders. You have your contacts all across the world, and together we need to work to make sure Jericoacoara keeps its natural beauty and is not overdeveloped in an unsustainable way."
The shifting sands of development
The threat to Jeri's future comes in the form of plans for much larger, more conventional 'glass and concrete' resorts being constructed close by. Already the amount of new building in Jeri has seen an iconic, enormous sand dune diminish in size and move more than half a mile further along the coast, says Piatti. "The dune is the starkest example of many things that we see happening here. Something that is perceived by some as 'development' is not a good development that we would like to see here. We want to see development that has respect for nature. This is our main concern. We have seen what happened here in the last 20 years. We are concerned for the future and we would like to protect Jeri."
One of the competitors in the women's wingfoiling fleet, enjoying her first Wingfoil Racing World Cup event, was Josefa Asalgado from Chile. When she's not riding a wave on the ocean, as an environmental lawyer she is working hard to help protect those very same waves. "Back home in Chile I work for an organisation - Fundacion Rompientes [The Surfbreak Foundation] - that protects marine ecosystems, with a special focus on surf breaks in Chile. So it's interesting to come here to Jeri and see that there are similar problems and challenges. I think this is a worldwide situation for places that have important conditions for watersports like surfing, wingfoiling, windsurfing or whatever it is.
A microcosm of a global issue
"They're all experiencing this migration of people. So little towns - what used to be fishermen towns - are getting lots of people and tourism and they're growing faster than regulations can cope with. So I think it is a very worldwide issue and I hope authorities and people can come together and put some order into this uncontrolled growth."
Asalgado believes Vila Kalango are pursuing a model of sustainable eco-tourism that respects the surrounding environment. "Vila Kalango have a great approach because they're trying to keep things as they were, but they're also putting it out there that they're worried about unregulated development. They are showing the example of what we can do, that we need to be loud about these issues, and tell people what's happening before it's too late."
So if tourism brings too many people to a small place like Jericoacoara, how do wingfoiling competitors justify their right to visit Jeri compared with other visitors? Paolo Migliorini, an Italian who emigrated to Brazil many years ago and set up a watersports resort - Dr. Wind - further along the Brazilian coast at São Miguel do Gostoso, was competing in the men's fleet at the Wingfoil Racing World Cup.
Some tourists impact more than others
"There are different types of tourist," says Migliorini. "I think that sports tourists like ourselves tend to live healthy lives and we respect the environment around us because without this we can't do what we love. We have a low impact on the environment, we don't do drugs, we don't leave garbage around the place, we might have a beer after we've been on the water but we're not getting drunk in the evening. I don't want to judge anybody, but there are different types of tourist and that's just the way it is."
Like Migliorini, the co-owners of Vila Kalango recognised the appeal of northern Brazil more than a quarter of a century ago. "Part of the magic of Jeri is the wind that blows here so consistently," says Piatti, who fell in love with Brazil and decided to make it his home. "We built Vila Kalango in a very sustainable way 25 years ago when sustainability was not even being talked about in the world.
"We built the rooms without televisions, without air conditioning, because the wind in Jeri provides the air conditioning. We could see that there was a growing demand for a different kind of tourism where people wanted a new kind of luxury, a more silent space. And we have proven that you can create a business model that is environmentally sustainable and also do good business in a commercial way."
Sustainable - not destructive - profit
Of course, no development ever happens without the prospect of profit, but DalPozzo warns that going for development on a massed scale will just not work long term. The profits will come quickly, and disappear almost as quickly if Jeri loses its unique identity and natural appeal. The unique spirit of Jeri will disappear and then no one will be making money.
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