CAUSES
source: Ministerio de Agricultura
This chart depicts the number of burned down hectares in Galicia every year, according to the affected tree species.
It's very clear that pine trees and eucalyptus are the most affected ones. That's because they're easily flammable. Also, they're called "water junkies", as they absorb more water from the ground than other native tree species.
Pine trees and eucalyptus are foreign species to Galicia, and "invaded" our forests since a couple of centuries ago. The interest behind this fact is that they grow up faster, which means frequent tree felling.
The company that wants the most wood cutting to happen is...
... ENCE (Energy and cellulose). This company owns a factory by the edge of Pontevedra's sea inlet.
This company is the world's second at cellulose production. The costs of this activity is high pollution and massive tree cutting. Also, they are interested in the plantation of pine trees and eucalyptus, and used to encourage them.
Native tree species (oak and chestnut) are very resistent to fires and take lots of years to grow up. As for the foreign species, they can grow up within five years.
-7%
This is the percentage that represents the evolution in population of the Galician countryside: negative.
70%
of Galician people are concentrated in only 86 towns. 25 inhabitants leave their villages each day.
If no one's there to look after the forest, no one can stop the flames if they ever happen. And flames spread fast.
There are many units of firefighters in Galicia: brigades, military and firefighters themselves. But there's no coordination between these units, and it's very frequent to see neighbours fighting against the fires that surround their homes.
around 500
brigade members are fired at the end of every summer, as the temperatures lower and the risk of fires diminish. But climate change caused higher temperatures in the months of september and october, and thus, fire risk in those months too.
