Bermeo tenders for work to recover natural countryside at Tonpoi

04/10/2021

• Work will take place as part of the green infrastructure actions under the Life IP Urban Klima 2050 project.

Bermeo municipal council has set up a tender for bids to recover the natural environment at Tonpoi as one of the green infrastructure actions under the LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050 project. The estimated cost of the work is €226,262 and the deadline for bids is 7 October 2021.

This action led by Bermeo municipal council seeks to bring the area in question back to a fully natural state in environmental and social terms by creating a peri-urban green infrastructure based on sustainable criteria and adaptation to climate change. The area include 3 km of coastline of high environmental value which forms part of the Natura 2000 Network and is a core area of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve.

The tasks involved will take 3 months to complete, and include mainly the following:

• Demolition, grading and land clean-up work.
• Landscaping in green areas.
• Construction of footpaths.

The idea is to create a natural public park at Tonpoi with areas to help protect against the warming caused by climate change.

Concerning the Urban Klima 2050 project

The European LIFE Urban Klima 2050 project is the most ambitious scheme of its kind led by the Basque Country. It seeks to assure the resilience of the area based on a multi-level governance approach involving multiple players and climate action on the ground. This ambitious project began in 2019 thanks to the efforts of a large consortium of 20 organisation, with initial investment of €19.8 million (€10.2 M (i.e. 52% of the total) funded by the EU). The social entities involved in the project have set the ambitious target of implementing 40 actions in three specific areas (the coastline, river basins and peri-urban areas) over 6 years.

LIFE Urban Klima 2050 involves pilot schemes in the three Basque provincial capitals (Bilbao, Donostia and Vitoria-Gasteiz) and in a further four municipalities: Bakio, Bermeo, Gernika-Lumo and Zarautz. These 7 Basque municipal councils are members of the consortium behind Urban Klima 2050, with publicly owned environmental management company Ihobe as its leader and coordinator. Also involved are several Basque Government departments, URA (the Basque Water Agency), EVE (the Basque Energy Association), all three provincial councils, five science and technology centres  (AZTI, BC3, Tecnalia, Neiker & Tecnun) and the Naturklima Foundation.