Basque Researchers Document Environmental Grief

Researchers at the Basque Center for Climate Change (BC3) in Spain are collecting oral histories in the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve. They conducted roughly 30 in-depth interviews with people connected to the area, focusing on their experiences with environmental change. These testimonies reveal a sense of “solastalgia”—a feeling of distress caused by changes to a familiar and beloved landscape.

The project aims to archive these stories within Ahoa, the Basque Country’s archive of oral and audiovisual history. Researchers connected with similar projects in biosphere reserves across Portugal, Brazil, and São Tomé and Príncipe to share knowledge. Interviewees describe losing access to resources like mushroom gathering spots due to new plantations, illustrating a perceived loss of environmental quality.

The work connects to the Life Urbaso project, which studies sustainable forest management and water quality. While the oral histories confirm changes in water sources and pollution, the researchers note that further study is needed to fully understand the long-term impacts of these changes on the region.