The Basque Government invests €3 million in climate adaptation and flood protection for the environmental improvement of the River Estepona in Bakio

14/04/2025

Basque Minister Mikel Jauregi, accompanied by Mayor Amets Jauregizar, visited the Bakea-Solozarre area where the plan is to create inland marshland and a floodable forest to make the zone more climate resilient.

The River Estepona climate adaptation project in Bakio involves an investment of €2.9 million and is scheduled to take around 10 months.

The work will be carried out in two phases: the first will include the water and environmental improvement of the zone, and the second will involve a landscape integration project to create a park for public use.

Bakio is very vulnerable to the combined effect of coastal and river flooding, and this project is estimated to cut the risk by nearly 90%.

These actions come under LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050, a project co-funded by the European Commission and led by Ihobe, and which is driving 40 climate actions in the Basque Country up until 2026.

This morning, the Basque Government’s Minister for Industry, the Energy Transition and Sustainability, Mikel Jauregi, accompanied by the Mayor of Bakio, Amets Jauregizar, has visited the Bakea-Solozarre area; work there is underway – as the result of the collaboration between Bakio Local Council and the Basque Government’s Ihobe and URA-Basque Water Agency – to make the municipality less vulnerable to coastal and river flooding, along with improving the environmental quality of the River Estepona. The intervention, which involves an investment of €2,973,000 and will take an estimated 10 months, is part of LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050; this European climate action project envisages creating inland marshland and a floodable forest using nature-based solutions, along with a park for public use. 

During the visit, Minister Mikel Jauregi stressed that these interventions represent a strategic investment for the future of the Basque Country.  ‘Not acting against climate change costs more the investing in solutions to adapt to its impacts. With this intervention in Bakio, we are reducing the risk of flooding, conserving the river ecosystem, and we are also improving the quality of life of the citizens’, he explained. 

In turn, the Mayor of Bakio, Amets Jauregizar, pointed out that the project is in keeping with the local council’s approach.  ‘In Bakio, we have identified the risks given the uncertainty created by climate change and we will be undertaking numerous projects to adapt the territory in the coming years. The goal will be to protect and bolster the values of the environment in which we live’.

According to URA-Basque Water Agency calculations, it is estimated that the flood area with a 100-year recurrence interval in Bakea-Solozarre will shrink by 6 hectares. Furthermore, the economic impact will also be significant: the costs associated with flood damage are expected to fall from €0.27 million a year to just €0.03 million, which is nearly 90% lower.  ‘We are not only protecting the present, but also ensuring the future of Bakio.  Each euro invested in climate change adaptation avoids economic losses and strengthens the resilience of our territory’, Jauregi stressed. 

The project was prepared taking public opinion into account and Jauregizar advocated continuing on that path.  ‘We are going to transform the centre of Bakio and community participation will be essential.  Apart from protecting life in the case of extreme phenomena, we believe that this great park is going to have a positive impact on our health and on our leisure time’. Guided tours will shortly be organised for the public in order to explain in situ the project and its benefits. 

Furthermore, the initiative is committed to nature-based solutions as a fundamental way to achieve more resilient territories.  ‘This initiative not only projects Bakio, but is also a benchmark model to protect other municipalities and regions.  Therefore, we are committed in the Basque Country to solutions inspired by nature and by the power of the ecosystems as the main strategy to adapt the territory and, thus, protect people from the effects of climate change. Therefore, we are clear that our model is the collaboration between different institutions’, concluded Jauregi. 

During the visit, both dignitaries were accompanied by Josu Bilbao, the Basque Deputy Minister for the Environment, and Adolfo Uriarte, and the Basque Government’s Director of Natural Heritage and Climate Change, along with the general managers of Ihobe and URA, Alexander Boto and Asier López.  

Actions envisaged in Bakea and Solozarre

The Bakio urban centre is in a zone with a significant flood risk, according to the map of Areas with Significant Flood Risk Potential (ARPSI) of the River Estepona. An intervention plan has been designed to address this problem and which envisages the creation of inland marshland in the tidal area of Bakea; that will be extended upstream with a floodable forest in the Bakea and Solozarre inland parks.  These actions will allow the biological and physical processes of the river to be restored, provide a greater space for its natural course and reduce the effects of the flood water downstream. 

The project will be implemented in two main phases.  The first will include decreasing the likelihood of flooding and improving the environmental quality of the zone, by restoring the river banks and dredging under the Santa Catalina bridge, to thus increase the watercourse. 

Furthermore, special measures are proposed during this phase to preserve and encourage the presence of wildlife in the area, such as amphibians, reptiles, birds and European mink.  Native vegetation will be used and the exotic and invasive plants present in this area will be eradicated.  A natural area will thus be restored and will enable the development of the riverbank ecosystem. 

The second phase of the project involves landscaping with the creation of a park for public use, which will enable the citizens of Bakio to enjoy a regenerated and more accessible setting.  The transformation of the area has been designed taking into account the contributions gathered in the citizen participation workshops, in order to ensure that the new space meets the needs and expectations of the municipality. 

The key features of this new landscape include the creation of small hillocks with riverbank vegetation, which will provide natural shade and rest areas. Along with the athletic tracks, there will be a viewpoint with green tiered seating and a recreational area with slides.  Two pedestrian walkways, one in Bakea and the other in Solozarre, are planned to improved access to both banks of the rivers.  The parks will also have new leisure areas and a children’s playground on the right bank of the River Estepona, which will make this area even more attractive as a meeting point for the local residents. 

The intervention is thus a comprehensive solution contributing to the current and future sustainability of the municipality.  Along with integrating climate change adaptation criteria and fostering biodiversity, the project takes circular economy principles into account to reuse the excavated earth from the plot; the relocating of the surplus earth to fill in the forestry tracks of the municipality; and the classifying and removal by an authorised manager of the construction and demolition waste (CDW) present in the work area. 

Participatory process

Furthermore, the project is also underpinned by a participatory process involving the citizens of Bakio, ranging from working together to design the project rights form the start to choosing the amenities for the future public park.

LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050, an expanding project

The intervention to project against flooding and for the environmental improvement of the River Estepona in Bakio comes under LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050, the project co-funded by the European Commission that seeks to bolster the resilience of Basque territory to climate change.  Thanks to the extension approved by the European Commission, the Basque Country’s largest climate action project will continue until the end of 2026. €13.87 million have so far been invested, which represents 70% of the initial budget.  Eighty percent of the planned actions are currently underway and 10% have already been completed. 

The completed work includes the regeneration of the Tonpoi coastal area in Bermeo, the climate change adaptation measures and to protect the coastline in Zarautz, and the rewilding of the Errekatxulo irrigation channel in Belartza.

The Urban Klima 2050 project is led by the Basque Government’s Ministry of Industry, the Energy Transition and Sustainability, through Ihobe.  Twenty-four partner entities are taking part, including different areas of the Basque Government, the three provincial governments, the local councils of Bermeo, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Donostia/San Sebastián, Bakio, Bermeo, Gernika-Lumo and Zarautz, along with publicly-owned companies (EVE, BEC Solar, Euskalmet, CADEM and URA), research and technology centres (AZTI; BC3, Neiker, Tecnalia and Tecnun), the Naturklima Foundation and the Vitoria-Gasteiz Environmental Studies Centre-CEA.