Risk management by public institutions operates in an uncomfortable and uncertain space, ranging from reasonable prudence to overreaction aimed solely at protecting themselves from recent setbacks. When the Catalan government decreed preventative measures last week in anticipation of strong winds, some sectors felt it had gone too far: phenomena like that, or even worse, have occurred many times, although never before had such a radical response been taken. Others, however, considered the crisis to have been managed proportionately to the predicted weather threats. The debate, in any case, is not new: it forms part of a deeper question about the legitimate limits of state intervention in protecting citizens.

HIV emerged as an epidemic 40 years ago, and today, 32,579 people are living with the virus in Catalonia alone. In 2019, a treatment called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) was approved in Spain that prevents it; however, as reported by the ARAThere are waiting lists of up to 30 months, and infections are being recorded while patients wait to receive the drug. This Wednesday, the BCN Checkpoint community center—one of the few authorized to distribute it—asked the Catalan Health Department for more resources to reduce the wait and curb the unregulated black market for PrEP. BCN Checkpoint has 40,000 people waiting to receive the drug and only 40 new slots available per month. This causes the waiting list to climb to two and a half years. The center's coordinator of studies and manager of the waiting list, Félix Pérez, stated that since the treatment's approval, 20 infections have been detected among people on the waiting list, and he attributes this to administrative inaction. "It is unacceptable that there are new infections due to negligence on the part of the system. There are people who want to take care of their health, but they are waiting," denounced the center's director, Ferran Pujol.

Without professionals working in the landscape, governments are forced to carry out an ever-increasing annual count of burned hectares. The climate crisis, rural depopulation, and the hitherto modest budget dedicated to the forestry sector have paved the way for fires to become more frequent, unpredictable, and virulent. This is known as Megafires – difficult to stop for humans and machinery– have caused uncontrollable and simultaneous outbreaks in the northwest of the Peninsula, and devastating outbreaks in Catalonia, such as the one in La Segarra, or the Els Ports Natural Park, both with fatalities. In the face of these tragedies, the debate is centered on the plans for Fire prevention: they are sufficient, adequate and well-funded?

A dozen of Catalan donkeys resting in the shade on a farm in Rupit. "They're very sociable animals; you should have at least two for them to interact with each other," explains Xavier Barceló. He and Teresa Fainé own a 300-hectare plot of land in the Osona region and raise this endangered animal. In total, they have about twenty specimens that are responsible for keeping the undergrowth clean on part of the plot.

The fire that broke out this Tuesday in the Segarra and Noguera regions has left two people dead, thousands of hectares burned (and a dozen buildings damaged), and has forced the confinement of 20,000 residents in nine municipalities. The fire spread at an almost unprecedented speed, causing a surprising stir. who ended up dying while trying to take shelter under some rocks. The head of the Generalitat's Fire Brigade, David Borrell, tells ARA that the main rule for self-protection if we have a fire nearby is to try to confine ourselves.