This Friday will see the peak of the umpteenth heatwave of the summer, with suffocating temperatures that unfortunately we will have to get used to, as they are on their way to becoming a new normal. Tropical nights – above 25 degrees –, which were once exceptional, are now common in many Mediterranean cities, and are beginning to be felt strongly in Northern Europe, where until now they were unimaginable. In this context, the data contained in the Atlas of heat vulnerability are particularly interesting, a study that calculates the needs of the main Spanish cities in a scenario of rising temperatures. The study identifies variables such as the quality of the housing stock, per capita income, or urban planning and vegetation to mark the difference between cities that are better prepared to cope with heatwaves and others that are more exposed to their risks.

"Wild boars don't understand borders." These are the words of an environmental technician from a municipality in the Baix Llobregat region, which perfectly summarize the problems local councils face in controlling wildlife. All of this has gained prominence in the wake of the crisis. due to the outbreak of African swine feverBut for months—and in some cases, years—metropolitan municipalities with nearby mountains have been rolling up their sleeves to keep these wild boars under control. The problem arises when, outside of natural parks, the option chosen by one municipality affects the situation of another: either because it opts for hunting, which causes the wild boars—very sensitive to noise—to move to another area, or because it does nothing to control them. It's a scenario that turns municipal management of wild boar control into a veritable arena for game theory. This dilemma occurs, for example, in Sant Climent and the villages surrounding Sant Ramon mountain. The village's hunting society regularly conducts wild boar hunts within the municipal boundaries, which are entirely a hunting area. However, the city council warns that these efforts are "insufficient if neighboring municipalities do not implement similar measures" or if hunting is restricted in nearby areas—as is the case in so-called safety zones. This is the case, for example, in Sant Boi de Llobregat, where the standard control method is capture with cages followed by anesthesia by a veterinarian, and in Viladecans, where they are in the process of hiring a specialized company to do the same following incidents that occurred in the town center last autumn.