Collection of 1,300,000 signatures for the conservation of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve
- The initiative is driven by the NGO Seo/BirdLife and the Guggenheim Urdaibai Stop platform, and the number of signatures refers to the number of visitors each year the Bilbaíno museum has. They have pointed out that it will generate “critical and irreversible impacts” and that the reservation is “a living museum in itself”.
The NGO Seo/BirdLife and the citizen platform Guggheinheim Urdaibai Stop have launched a collection of signatures in defence of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve. To the Guggenheim Foundation “to demand that it renounce the destruction” of this ecosystem. In recent years there have been protests against this project and through a statement released by Seo/BirdLife have indicated that it is a “threat that will generate critical and irreversible impacts” for the values of the reserve. In addition, they argue that this environment is “a living museum in itself”, as “it is a spectacular landscape full of biological diversity, culture and history.” They have also pointed out that the region of Urdaibai has an important tourist destination without this project.
The objective of the agents is to obtain 1,300,000 signatures. This is the number of visitors that the Bilbaíno museum receives each year. They want to transfer to the project managers that the citizens reject the construction of two seats proposed in the reserve, one of them in the “heart of the estuary”. The Basque Government considers that the project will have an environmental, cultural and social impact.
Critics with institutions
In the opinion of Seo/BirdLife and Guggheinheim Urdaibai Stop, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, the Basque Government and the Government of Spain “forget” the objective of the reservation: “Maintain a good state of conservation of species and habitats and make them compatible with the sustainable and orderly development of the region.” They have also denounced that they have no arguments to justify the need for the project. They stress that the reserve is a Special Conservation and Special Conservation Area for Birds, and is included in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and the RAMSAR convention on wetlands of international importance.
At the beginning of the year, Lakua and the Provincial Council of Bizkaia announced the project’s closure for two years, as the patron of the Bilbaíno museum wants to take some time to “reflect” on the project. However, the Guggenheim Urdaibai Stope noted that the stop is not “acceptable” and will continue to work “until the project is definitively suspended”.
Lack of transparency, rejection of premises and high cost
In June of this year, as every year, the ecologist group Ekologistak Martxan has published the report Banderas Negras. The black flag for pollution in Bizkaia was given over to this project, specifically because of the pollution that is affecting Gernika and Murueta. They highlighted three reasons: the lack of transparency in project information, the rejection of the local population and the high cost to pay. It is the second year in a row that the hooded train of the Concha receives the black flag.
On 22 January, Iñigo Urkullu and Elixabete Etxanobe attended the media jointly, and Urkullu announced that the institutions they represent will have a two-year period to analyze the viability of the Guggenheim Urdaibai project. It says that changes are being made in the... [+]
O pasado 28 de outubro celebrouse unha multitudinaria manifestación en Gernika. Desde tempos remotos, quizá o máis grande dos realizados en 1987 con motivo do 50 aniversario do bombardeo. Nel denunciouse a imposición do novo proxecto de museo Guggenheim, protexido da... [+]
When the Guggenheim Urdaibai project began to be discussed for the first time around 2009, the Zain Dezagun Urdaibai partnership began its work by promoting information, self-organization and mobilization. Thus emerged the associative platform of Urdaibai, currently active... [+]
The Guggenheim Urdaibai project is not today, eleven years ago they wanted to carry it out in Sukarrieta, and we stop, the intention of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and the Guggenheim Foundation to build the museum by bringing down the building of Labastida that abandoned... [+]
