URA has started the works in the Estepona River for flood protection and adaptation to climate change in Bakio
16/10/2025
The works will create an inland marsh and a floodable forest to increase flood safety in the urban area and hence increase the climate resilience of Bakio.
Works have started on the Estepona river to improve the environment, flood protection and adaptation to climate change in Bakio. The works will create an inland marsh in the Bakea area (with tidal influence) and a floodable forest through nature-based solutions in the inland parks of Bakea and Solozarre, spaces that will be developed as a park for public use at low waters.
According to the mapping of Areas at Potential Significant Risk of Flooding (ARPSI) of the River Estepona, Bakio is located in an area with a significant risk of flooding, whereby the areas of Bakea and Solozarre are largely in a flood zone with a return period of 10 years. The intervention, which is part of the European LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050 climate action project with investment of €2,482,125.42 and an estimated completion time of 8 months, will return space to the river, enabling the recovery of its physical and biological processes, and thus combating the combined impact that river and coastal flooding periodically causes in the municipality.
As a result, the works are expected to reduce the area occupied by flood flows in Bakea and Solozarre by 6 hectares with a return period of 100 years, which in turn will reduce the associated economic damage by €0.24 million/year. This includes protecting 13 establishments and 76 jobs whose activity is developed in the area covered by the action.
In addition to the hydraulic improvement of the area, thanks to which the flood safety of the town centre will be increased and, with it, the resilience of Bakio in light of climate change, the works also contemplate the elimination of invasive species of flora and the planting of climate adapted autochthonous species. This environmental improvement, along with the new zoning of the area, seeks to favour species of interest, such as the European mink, the black-green lizard and birds associated with coastal wetlands.
LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050 is the largest climate action project in the Basque Country
The intervention for the flood protection and environmental improvement of the Estepona River in Bakio is part of the LIFE IP Urban Klima 2050 project which, co-financed by the European Commission, seeks to strengthen the resilience of the Basque territory in light of climate change. Now in its third and final phase of a total of eight years (period 2019-2026), Urban Klima 2050 is the largest climate action project in the Basque Country and its main objective is the transformation of the Basque territory through the coordination of 23 partner entities in a total of 40 climate change mitigation and adaptation actions.
