Over 350 researchers disapprove of the Guggenheim museum project in the wetlands of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve
Coordinated by the Mediterranean Alliance for Wetlands, 374 researchers have signed a manifesto opposing the construction of a Guggenheim museum at the Murueta Shipyard, while advocating for the restoration of the land lost to the shipbuilding industry in the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve. This initiative aims to promote the effective conservation of waterfowl.
The majority of the signatories are PhD holders working or collaborating at universities, research centers, and scientific societies in the Basque Country and Spain. However, the manifesto has also been signed by researchers from Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Finland, Italy, Portugal, Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and the United States.
Notably, there is strong support from researchers affiliated with the University of the Basque Country (EHU), the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).
SCIENTISTS`MANIFESTO AGAINST THE INSTALLATION OF A MUSEUM IN THE URDAIBAI BIOSPHERE RESERVE ESTUARY AND FOR THE EFFECTIVE CONSERVATION OF ITS BIODIVERSITY
The Urdaibai valley is a coastal natural area declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1984 and afforded special protection by the Basque Parliament since 1989. Its estuary is included in the Ramsar Convention’s List of Wetlands of International Importance.
The current Basque authorities plan to build two new museum sites in this protected area as part of the expansion of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. One of these would be located on land currently occupied by the shipyard Astilleros Murueta S.A., bordering the ES213007
Conservation Area and within the ES0000144 Bird Protection Zone of the Natura 2000
Network, something which would increase the impact on wildfowl.
Astilleros Murueta S.A. built its facilities on intertidal zone land thanks to a concession granted by the state in 1943, a concession which has since expired. This has caused serious ecological deterioration in the Reserve, as the estuary has been repeatedly dredged, altering its river-beds and draining 53 hectares of wetlands—an area equivalent to about 74 football pitches.
The undersigned, researchers committed to the study and conservation of biodiversity and aware of the serious impact that the proposed new site of the Guggenheim Museum would have on it, urge the Basque Government and the Provincial Council of Bizkaia not to build it in the afore-mentioned location. They also call for the necessary actions to be taken to restore the drained marsh area, reverting it to its intertidal condition so as to effectively conserve wildfowl in the Urdaibai Reserve.The Mediterranean Alliance for Wetlands acts as a liaison entity for this manifesto, with the aim of forwarding it to the Basque Government, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, and Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
1 Arizaga, J., Garaita, R. & Galarza, A. 2020. Leisure activities as a main threat for the
conservation of waterbirds in an estuary in northern Iberia. Animal Biodiversity and Conservation, 43.2: 243-254 .
2 Arizaga, J., Amat, J.A, Monge-Ganuzas, M. 2017. The negative effect of dredging and dumping on shorebirds at a coastal wetland in northern Spain. Journal for Nature Conservation, 37: 1-7.
Contact:Aitor Galarza (635748741) aitorgalarzai@gmail.com
