26 Feb 2008
After attending the World Congress of Biosphere Reserves in Madrid, Andy Rowland took the opportunity to carry out a fact-finding visit to the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve in the Basque Country in northern Spain.
The partnership asking UNESCO to enlarge the area of the Dyfi Biosphere had identified this as having much in common with the Dyfi, including a bilingual society and a bird-rich estuary landscape. Both have historic capitals (Machynlleth and Guernica) at their heart and the estuary water sports resorts of Aberdyfi and Sukarrieta are strikingly similar.
The coordinators were very interested in collaboration. Possible subjects include management of sand dune systems, sustainable rural tourism and climate change.
Andy found significant differences between the two areas as well as similarities. Agriculture in the valley seems to have been reduced to a small number of commercial farms and many informal small holdings, due to pressures from European agricultural policy. In contrast to the situation in the UK, the Urdaibai Biosphere has development control powers and is embedded in the regional government.
© 2007 Dyfi Biosphere