Budget cuts leave Spain firefighters short-handed against wildfires

Poor forest management, hot weather, and lack of policy has made matters worse for firefighters

August 24, 2012 05:29 AM

EurActiv.com

Austerity measures imposed by Spain’s central and regional governments have left fire brigades short-handed as they battle some of the worst forest fires in years, according to a conservationist and news reports from the parched country.

Blazes that have swept the country this summer have scorched more than 140,000 hectares of woodlands, including Garajonay National Park in Canary Islands and Cabaneros National Park in Central Spain.

“This means important loss of forest cover, biodiversity and in many cases consequences for the local economy that is based on the products obtained from forests,” said María Melero de Blas of the forestry programme at the WWF conservation group in Madrid.

Melero de Blas said that in addition to a shortage of fire personnel, lack of cooperation between different levels of government has fuelled the fire threat. “The budget reductions in the fight against forest fires are not only the cause of the fires that are currently affecting Spain,” she said.

“Poor forest management and lack of coordination between regional and state forestry policies in the last years have influence on the risk of fire,” she said in a written response to questions sent by EurActiv. “Although Spanish law requires that forests have a management plan, only 13% have it. The same occurs in natural protected areas. Only 9% of [EU] Natura 2000 areas have a management plan.”

She says some 14 million hectares, or 28% of the country, is dedicated to natural areas under national or regional guidelines. However, the report also cited a lack of coordination in the protection of natural areas and lack of enforcement of national and EU laws on biodiversity protection.

Weather conditions have taken a toll in other parts of Europe. Hot and dry conditions have fuelled damaging forest fires in Portugal, southern France and Greece, as well as in the Balkans and Turkey. The latest update from the shows extreme or high risk of fires extending from most of Spain, Italy, the western Balkans, Hungary and nearly all of Turkey. Burnt areas were reported in northern Spain and the Balkans.