FEATURED
A space for learning and testing for sustainable development
A very lively Biosphere Reserve, where the heart is its people.
The protection of Urdaibai under the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status is due to citizen mobilization. In the 1970s, the elaboration of a project called "Special Plan for the Development of the Mundaka Estuary" of titanic magnitude was ordered, which promoted the draining and urbanization of the area between Gernika and Mundaka. This was the trigger for the neighbors of the region to unite to confront the destruction of the ecosystems of Urdaibai, among other factors.
Natural reference in the Basque Country
Urdaibai represents an area of reference within the Basque Country in terms of its natural values, as it is the only natural area that has been designated as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. Biodiversity is one of the factors that most clearly indicates the environmental quality of a territory. Specifically, Urdaibai has a high biodiversity index, with 3,335 species and subspecies in the Biosphere Reserve.
14000 years of history
Throughout the centuries the inhabitants of Urdaibai have left their mark. A heritage that allows us to travel through the history of mankind. From prehistoric times with the archaeological site of Santimamiñe and its cave paintings, through the Iron Age or the Roman settlements.
The identity of the Basques
The cultural identity of the Basques is defined by multiple aspects, such as an ancestral history and their own culture, with particular ways of life, rites, beliefs and customs, our language, Euskera, is one of the oldest languages in Western Europe, a cultural richness to which our folklore is added, with Basque dances and popular songs, bertsolaritza, rural sports and Basque pelota, with the cesta punta as the most international game.