The initial proposal of URBASO was to implement a participatory process using collective thinking methodologies. The objective of this process was to assess the plurality of values associated with ecosystem services. However, after the project began, the URBASO team detected strong social polarization among different stakeholders, along with attitudes of distrust and even weariness toward the role of scientists.
This context made participatory methodologies for collective reflection unfeasible, and even counterproductive, for future negotiations regarding opportunities and challenges related to alternative approaches for designing and implementing a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) program or other solutions in the study area.
As a result, instead of a collective thinking-based approach, in-depth individual interviews were conducted. Through this method, and after providing a detailed explanation and obtaining informed consent, participants were able to express themselves freely.
With this methodology, LIFE URBASO aims to understand and situate the human component within the ecosystem of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve, as well as to comprehend people’s values and connections to it, along with the tensions and barriers to accepting solutions for the region’s current socio-ecological challenges.
Following a prior stakeholders mapping, 30 in-depth interviews were conducted with various individuals whose main activities are connected to the Biosphere Reserve. Additionally, an archival review was carried out, focusing primarily on written press from the Basque Country during the time the Biosphere Reserve was declared and when the Reserve Law was passed. Special attention was given to perceptions of conflicts and to narratives that emerged 40 years ago—some of which have since disappeared, while others persist today.
To highlight and preserve the created sources (the interviews) and to prevent the loss of this intangible historical heritage at a critical moment for the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve, a collection of voices about the Reserve will be created at the end of the project. This collection will be housed in the Archive of Oral History of Euskal Herria, a center dedicated to collecting, preserving, and disseminating oral and audiovisual testimonies from the Basque Country.
See also: https://www.ahoaweb.org/english.php