This summer has been marked by particularly severe forest fires in the northwestern region of Galicia, and locals have called for the revival of a once-common practice of burning undergrowth in the winter, Reuters reports.
Hotter, drier summers mean more widespread and destructive forest fires, and locals and experts have called for controlled burning and other forest management methods to prevent such large-scale fires.
In southern Galicia, the summer of 2025 brought the worst forest fires in 30 years. Four people died, towns were threatened and an area of 3,300 square kilometers burned during an August heat wave. Javier Fernandez Perez, a 72-year-old retired waiter and baker, said the fire is more intense when it starts in an area where vegetation has not been controlled, and said that if nothing is done, it will be back in about six years.
Just a few weeks ago, the flames destroyed 190 square kilometers around the village where Perez lives. The man said there was no way to control it.
Forestry experts and political leaders have said that
a lack of investment in forest management and fire prevention over the past two decades has made the situation so dire.
Victor Resco, a professor of forest engineering at Leiden University, said that a new approach was needed across Europe at a time when fires are increasingly occurring closer to populated areas.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez admitted in August that fire safety issues had been neglected and forest management was inadequate. He vowed to do everything possible to ensure that such widespread forest fires do not happen again.
Only Sweden and Finland have more forests in Europe than Spain, covering more than 180,000 square kilometers. Rural areas are becoming more deserted, meaning regional authorities are having to take over management that was previously done by local communities.
Two-thirds of Spain’s forests are owned by private owners,
most of whom lack knowledge about forest management. Data from the Spanish Environment Ministry shows that less than a quarter of forests have a sustainable management plan, and the ministry noted that sometimes two generations of owners have not set foot in their forests.
The Spanish Mea Engineers Association estimates that for every euro invested in fire prevention, 100 euro is saved in extinguishing costs. Greenpeace and other groups want the government to invest at least 1 billion euro in a forest fire prevention plan. Investment in forest management fell sharply around 2008, when the global financial crisis was raging, and funding for the sector picked up again around 2018. After the pandemic, Spain allocated a smaller share of EU recovery funds to forest fire prevention than its neighbours.
Funding remains a problem. Sanchez’s minority government is already facing pressure from NATO partners and US President Donald Trump for delaying a defence budget increase. Sanchez has said that the costs of adapting to climate change also fall under defence spending.
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