A piece of research by the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country has concluded that designating Urdaibai as a protected area has improved the life quality of the citizens, despite placing certain restrictions on them.
A piece of research by the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country has concluded that designating Urdaibai as a protected area has improved the life quality of the citizens, despite placing certain restrictions on them.
The environmental evolution and the socioeconomic and cultural evolution in Urdaibai since it was designated a Biosphere Reserve have been analysed at the UPV/EHU. The conclusion reached is that this designation has not had any negative effect on the inhabitants, the conservation of the environment has been guaranteed, and it may have boosted the local socioeconomic and cultural development. These conclusions were drawn after having analysed the socioeconomic and cultural variables and the variables linked to land use of the Busturialdea and Uribe Kosta districts.
Initially, protected areas had a single, major aim which was to protect the biodiversity; today, by contrast, the promotion of people's well-being is also one of their aims. The relationship between the conservation of an environment and its socioeconomic and cultural development has been fiercely debated in society. In actual fact, since Urdaibai was designated a Biosphere Reserve and the Use and Management Steering Plan was approved (1993), various activities have been banned and various types of exploitation have been restricted, and that has been hotly debated among the inhabitants. Many Urdaibai inhabitants do not agree with the restrictions imposed, whereas others feel that the measures imposed do not go far enough to guarantee conservation.
Read more at University of the Basque Country
Image: The designation of Biosphere Reserve improves the life quality of its citizens. (Credit: Igone Palacios / UPV/EHU)
