The plan to build a Guggenheim Museum branch in Urdaibai, a UNESCO biosphere reserve in the Basque Country, has been cancelled. Environmentalists and locals had opposed the project, saying it would damage vital habitats for wildlife and migrating birds. The Guggenheim Foundation, along with the Basque government and local authorities, had promoted the new museum in Guernica and Urdaibai as a way to bring jobs, investment, and cultural revival. But critics argued the project moved ahead without proper public consultation and threatened the natural reserve. Earlier this week, the Guggenheim Foundation said the project was scrapped due to "territorial, urban planning and environmental constraints and limitations." They added that they would look for new ways to expand while staying true to their mission as a leading cultural institution. The original Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao opened in 1997 and helped the city recover from industrial decline, becoming a tourist hotspot. However, locals stressed that Urdaibai’s natural cliffs and salt marshes could not be compared to Bilbao’s urban site. Campaign groups like Greenpeace, WWF, Ecologists in Action, Friends of the Earth, and SEO/BirdLife had called for stopping the project. The announcement was warmly welcomed by the Guggenheim Urdaibai Stop platform, which said leaders had finally listened to society, science, and the law. SEO/BirdLife highlighted that citizen activism saved this "threatened natural heritage." Greenpeace Spain said, "Social mobilisation works," praising local groups for preserving Urdaibai as a natural monument that will stay protected.