Preliminary work on a vast hotel project linked to the Trump family has already caused irreparable damage to a once pristine stretch of Albania’s coast, scientists and activists say.

Satellite images obtained by AFP show that during a 25-day period in May, a road was cleared, an entire zone deforested and a bridge built to span the channel connecting the Narta lagoon to the sea.

“Bulldozers on the beaches have already damaged the nesting sites of loggerhead turtles, which are threatened with extinction,” Olsi Nika, a marine biologist who heads the NGO EcoAlbania, told AFP.

In addition, the nesting grounds of numerous bird species have been disturbed by access roads through the dunes and the felling of trees, while construction on a vital channel between the lagoon and the sea has severely disrupted water flows essential to maintaining wetlands.

“An absolute biodiversity massacre,” said Nika.

Daily demonstrations against the project have led to the suspension of some work, but the “damage caused to the heritage site long before construction even began is largely irreparable”, says Ferdinand Bego, a professor at the University of Tirana.

Flamingos

Environmental activists have long raised concerns about the $5.1 billion project — first mooted in 2024 by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner — to build luxury hotels amid flamingo colonies and on a deserted island.

In a podcast, Trump’s daughter Ivanka explained that “we have not just the island, but five miles of beach front directly across from the island with a beautiful peninsula with a lagoon on one side, the ocean on the other, and beautiful white sand beaches”.

Albanians have been protesting against the project for months, but it was when barbed wire appeared several weeks ago to mark out the boundaries of the complex that anger erupted.

Private security guards suppressed one protest, further sparking a succession of demonstrations.

Prime Minister Edi Rama, whose government has been in power for 13 years, defends what it calls “Europe’s finest project”, saying it will help Albania catch up with coastal neighbours Montenegro, Greece and Croatia by attracting international capital and creating jobs.

In mid-June, a group of scientists visited the site to assess damage that might have been caused by the preparatory works.

In the report they published following their visit, they highlighted damage to turtle nesting sites, bird habitats and the local dunes.

Protesters against the project have received support from British pop star Dua Lipa, who is of Kosovar origin.

Even the European Union, which Albania hopes to join in 2030, has spoken out on the country’s failure to meet obligations under Chapter 27, which relates to the environment and climate change.

“Already before these protests started, we had agreed with Albania that this year they would repeal the 2024 amendments to the law on protected areas and repeal the law on strategic investment,” Marta Kos, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, said in July.

Friedrich Schiemer, a professor from the University of Vienna, who visited the site in June, said it is urgent to limit the damage to the area, saying that large-scale tourism projects “could irreparably compromise its natural integrity”.