“Climate action is essential to mitigate the effects of climate change on our coast”

22/11/2024

Iñigo Urrutikoetxea Alvarez, Ihobe’s climate action expert, described the actions carried out by the LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050 project to create a floodable park in Bakio and recover the Tonpoi area in Bermeo on Euskadi Irratia.

On Wednesday November 20, Iñigo Urrutikoetxea Alvarez, Ihobe's climate action expert, took part in Euskadi Irratia's Faktoria programme, which dedicated a section to the effects of climate change on the Basque coast.

In his contribution, Urrutikoetxea explained the forecasts that Ihobe is working with thanks to the data collected by the Kostaegoki project and the viewer it uses to analyse the vulnerability of and risk to the Basque coastline as a result of rising sea levels and waves. According to these data, in the most pessimistic scenario, sea levels could have risen by about 1 metre by 2100, which is “something that would not only have an impact on beaches, but would also affect people living in coastal municipalities and have a significant economic impact,” he said.

In view of this scenario, Urrutikoetxea went on to explain how Ihobe believes that “it is imperative to drive climate action to tackle these effects”, and that “it is time to make decisions and look at climate change as an opportunity to set the adaptation actions required in motion”. To this end, he gave details of some of the actions that have been implemented as part of the LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050 project in the coastal region as examples.

These include the flood protection actions planned in Bakio and the environmental improvement of the River Estepona, “which as well as protecting the area against flooding will make it possible to create a park for recreational use and recover a degraded area".

He also mentioned the project that has already been completed in Bermeo with the recovery of the Tonpoi natural area, “a degraded, inaccessible area due to the presence of vegetable gardens, enclosed areas and shacks”. Once the cleaning and renaturing work was completed, this area was opened up for public use, featuring a periurban green infrastructure using natural materials, based around sustainable gardening criteria.