Provided by Pietro Lombardi, Aistinn Laing, Nacho Doce and Emma Pedus
Parafita, Spain (Reuters) -Javier Fernandez Perez remembers how his Hamlet’s inhabitants burned underground in winter to help prevent huge fires that burned the Northwest Galician region of Spain last summer.
When hotter and drier weather causes larger and more destructive fires, both experts and locals require such fire breaks and other forestry management methods and incentives to implement urgently to avoid repetition over the coming years.
The southern Galicia was the epicenter in the worst Spanish fire season in three decades. August During the record heat wave, the fires killed four people in cities and cities, and covered 330,000 ha, which is twice the size of London.
“If nothing is done to prevent fires, it will be repeated in about six years,” said Fernandez Perez, a 72-year-old pensioner and baker, indicating the cruelty of Blazes if they ignite with more or less unlimited vegetation.
Spanish experience is tested for Europe
Just a few weeks ago, the fire devastated 19,000 hectares of land around its Parafita settlement. “Don’t control it. Even with helicopters, all Spanish helicopters, planes or anything else,” he said.
Forestry experts and political leaders have said that in the last two decades there is a lack of investment in forestry management and fire prevention.
Fresh solutions must be repeated throughout Europe, as fires are approaching the populated areas, said Victor Resco, a professor of forestry engineering at the University of Lleida.
“What we see in Spain is the trial of what Europe can expect,” he said. “It will be too late to change the sticker over 20 or 30 years, when the temperature increases in Central and Northern Europe.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in August. Acknowledged that the fire prevention was “clearly inadequate” and that the forestry management was inappropriate. He pledged to do “what it takes” to ensure that the fires never happen to this extent.
Forest coverage expands, some control free
Spain is behind the Swedish and Finnish forest cover in Europe, covering 18.6 million hectares, and its forests grow by 2.2%each year compared to the European average by 0.51%, according to the Association of Private Forest Owners.
This increases the territory that must be managed, and the number of rural population means that regional authorities must finance the prevention work previously done by communities.
There are fewer people to solve areas where vegetation grew in rainy spring and then dies in heat waves because climate changes disrupt models of weather conditions, leaving the natural ignition of acres.
The legislation in Spain also made it difficult to regulate controlled burning in such preventive practice.
Two -thirds of Spanish forests are privately owned, mostly individuals with limited forestry management experience. The Ministry of the Environment shows that less than a quarter of the forest has long -term sustainable management plans.
“In some cases, two generations of owners have never even gone down their feet on land plots,” Hugo Moran, secretary of the environment, told Reuters.
The government should offer tax benefits to forest owners to reflect the role they play when catching carbon dioxide and water management and as a wildlife shelter, Patricia Gomez Agrela of Cose said.
It should finance the forests to become more economically viable with wood, biomass, stopper, seeds, mushrooms and fruits, as in the Nordic countries, she said.
“There is a European biodiversity strategy that does not mean intervention in some areas, but it accumulates a lot of vegetation causing a high risk of fire. Then you lose the biodiversity you have tried to preserve. We have to find balance,” she said.
The money is tense
The Spanish Forest Engineers Association estimated that every euro invested in prevention reduces the cost of extinguishing the Blazes 100 euros. Greenpeace and other groups want government authorities to invest € 1 billion in prevention a year.
National and Regional Government Investments in Fire Prevention Methods, such as the maintenance of fire breaks and reservoirs, since 2009 Decreased by 52 percent.
The cost of forestry decreased by 22%over the same period, although the cost of fire extinguishing remained stable.
Ministries and regional governments, which are primarily responsible for fire prevention and fire extinguishing, say that investment has begun to increase in 2017-2018.
They also say that the data does not reflect different ways to divide methods and expenses from the internal and agricultural ministries that support fire prevention.
“The biggest threat” to security
However, Spain has appointed a lower post -fund of post -funding for fire prevention than peers of Southern Europe. According to the European Court of Auditors, she spent 221 million euros (€ 259.5 million.
Money remains tense. The government led by Sanchez minorities has been under intense pressure of NATO partners and US President Donald Trump to increase Spain’s retarded defense costs over the year.
He also encountered cleaning costs due to devastating floods in Valencia and fires, he said that climate change adaptation and mitigation should also be defined as a defense.
“It is unfounded to believe that we should increase defense budgets while releasing the rear burner, which is currently the biggest threat to the safety of our citizens,” Moran said.
(1 USD = 0.8516 euro)
(Pietro Lombardi, Emma Pinedo, Aistinn Laing and Nacho Doce Reports; Edited by Charlie Deverux and Alison Williams)