The lack of forestry workers is a stumbling block for major firefighting plans.

Santa Coloma de GramanetWithout 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?

The Spanish government is preparing a state pact – without a specific budget commitment – to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis, including the risk of major fires. In this regard, Pedro Sánchez's government boasted this week in the Senate about having increased the budget allocated to this portfolio without precedent. According to data from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, when the PSOE came to power in Moncloa in June 2018, 13 million had been budgeted for fire prevention and 77 million for extinction. This year, these figures are 26 and 108 million respectively.

But the declaration on the management of major fires, promoted by the Pau Costa Foundation and with the support of associations, scientists and governments, highlights the urgent need to invest 1 billion euros annually to manage at least 1% of the forest area in Spain. "This investment must be regular and constant to be effective," emphasizes Jorge Aguado, a specialist in the forest program at WWF Spain. However, the state budget for fires is mostly allocated to coordination and support resources, since fire-related powers are delegated. Regional investment becomes the backbone of management.

In Catalonia, the Generalitat has budgeted around 18 million euros annually in the Forest Fire Prevention Plan 2022-2025, three times as much as in previous years. On Friday, President Salvador Illa asserted that minimizing the risk of fire must be a national policy, "with measures and resources from all ministries," and acknowledged the need for a "change of mentality" to reduce forest cover, which already represents 65% of the surface area. "If there is economic activity, there will be forest management, which we must publicly complement," he argued. A speech that hints at a desire to revive the agricultural and livestock sector, without guaranteed generational significance. The Government's objective is to "leave Catalonia prepared" to deal with sixth-generation fires, according to the Minister of Territory, Silvia Paneque, who noted that this will require "regulatory modifications" that will be announced later.

Public-private management

The head of the Forest Fire Prevention Planning Service in the Directorate General of Forests of the Ministry of Agriculture, José Ángel Terés, makes it clear that steps are already being taken to reverse the flammability of the territory, but that forestry policy cannot be changed overnight. "Budgets are increasing, but we are not able to implement everything planned," he warns. Even multiplying resources tenfold would not be possible to implement an optimal short-term plan. "It's not all about money: we don't have enough forestry workers," he states.

The private forestry sector and environmental organizations have been calling for decades for policies that facilitate the sustainable use of forests—biomass, pasture, and timber—and reactivate the rural economy to maintain healthy forest cover and thus reduce the risk of fires. Preparing the landscape involves creating paths and vegetation-free areas around urban centers, roads, and critical infrastructure; clearing and pruning to reduce the vulnerability of the terrain; and diversifying the landscape with a mosaic of crops, pastures, and forests. All of this facilitates firefighting teams' access to critical areas in the event of a fire.

The director of fire planning in Catalonia emphasizes the need to anticipate adverse weather events, which allows for the updating of hazard maps, as well as the intensification of the fight against the causes of these fires with Rural Agents, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police), and the Civil Guard. However, he admits that preparing the landscape and boosting rural work are difficult to achieve immediately.

One of the problems he points out is that 75% of the surface area is private: "We often don't find the right owner or person to agree on landscaping interventions." rural depopulation This has led many people to be unaware that they own land. Many are simply uninterested in investing resources, which contributes to the creation of continuous landscapes that encourage the burning of thousands of hectares.

Less tax pressure?

The president of the Catalan Forestry Consortium, Rosendo Castelló, explains that the Generalitat (Catalan Government) has increased aid for forest management, but admits there is still much room for improvement. "Prevention has begun to be implemented more systematically, and between 20% and 30% of the land is managed appropriately. But there is a clear deficit in forestry management and aid to landowners, who end up doing the work without any return," he states.

Pau Costa's statement argues that it is necessary to reduce the tax burden on rural residents and managers to incentivize their work. In fact, there is a proposal from the forestry and environmental sectors to deduct 20% of personal income tax on investments and expenses in forest estates that have a forest management instrument (FMI). "These are supervised and controlled investments that, in the long run, the State would recover through personal income tax with the social security contributions of the forestry workers we hire from the owners," Castelló affirms.

For the past four years, landowner associations that define areas where action is urgent due to fire risk, in agreement with the government and the fire department, have been eligible for grants of €4.5 million per year. "But we're talking about 150,000 strategic hectares," laments Castelló, who points out that maintenance work must always be carried out. "Having a well-organized forest responds to a public interest that must be compensated. Landowners need an initial public boost," he asserts. He argues that they could bring back highly trained employees who left because they were underpaid or whom the landowners themselves had to lay off.

Prevent before extinguishing

Historically, public funding has been prioritized for firefighting to the detriment of prevention. Terés points out that adapting helipads, purchasing equipment, or hiring firefighters are essential measures against fires, but they are useful once the fires have already broken out. "Sixth-generation fires cannot be extinguished with resources; a change in weather conditions is necessary. Therefore, deploying more brigades and people to fight them is not the solution," he points out.

According to Aguado, the lower visibility of prevention leads to the decision to purchase more seaplanes rather than incentivize work in the field—although the latter option is more profitable—and he denounces that investments are a response to public pressure due to major disasters rather than structural planning. "We won't put out all the fires, but prevention will help ensure there are fewer of them and we can concentrate firefighting resources," Terés concludes.