Spain on flames

A record fire season revealing a forest paradox

July 2026  alone saw 17 large forest fires hitting Almeria, Castilla de La Mancha and Valencia. The largest one so far has been Ávila–Madrid–Toledo, hitting the surroundings of the country capital. By the end of July, more than 173,000 hectares had burned in Spain since the start of the year, compared with about 30,000 hectares in the same period in 2025.

Forest engineers in Spain stress that the current situation is not only about climate change impacts, but also about how forests are valued and managed. Ignacio Pérez-Soba, dean of the Colegio de Ingenieros de Montes (Forest Engineers College), notes that society often only remembers forests when they burn, and forgets that sustainable timber use and active management are powerful tools to improve forest ecosystems.

Behind the fires lies a structural paradox. Over half of Spain’s territory is made of forests, making it the third largest EU country in forest area, yet the sector contributes only about 1.5% to Spanish GDP. Wildfire prevention is a national responsibility, but regional legislation tends to shift obligations onto almost 5 million, mostly small, private owners. This atomised ownership, combined with complex multi‑level governance, limited profitability of forest activities and an increasingly empty rural territory, means there are fewer “guardians of the land”. This makes coherent, long‑term forest management much harder to achieve, especially under increasingly extreme droughts and heatwaves.

Ecosystem services as a way to valorize forest and mitigate imbalances

Spanish experts focus on a central idea: forests should be seen as providers of measurable ecosystem services. In practical terms, that means instead of relying only on subsidies, forest owners and land managers can receive payments for measurable improved performance in the landscape. When forest owners and managers deliver benefits such as clean water, carbon storage or biodiversity, they should be able to receive income for those services. This helps move from passive ownership to active management and creates a clearer business case for forestry and integrated land use.

The current fire season shows how quickly this undervaluing our forests  can turn into a source of risk. In 2025, Spanish economic sectors emitted around 260 million tonnes of CO₂, while wildfires added another 43 million tonnes. Without better forest management, much of Spain’s climate effort, and EU climate policy more broadly, become redundant.

Fires are often seen as cyclical catastrophes, we see larges display of cooperation and the highest levels of government managing the situation and granting additional resources. However, there is a hidden imbalance. The amount invested in fire extinction nearly triplicates the investment in silviculture, forest management and restoration of burned areas. It is a not only a question of spending more, but of investing better: in activating multiple agents who are now inactive, in promoting training and well‑paid jobs, and even more importantly, connecting society with its forests, understanding them in their full cultural, ecological and socio-economic context.

From crisis to long term resilience

For the Netherlands, and for LVVN in particular, Spain’s situation offers both a warning and an opportunity. The warning is that climate driven risks in forest and rural landscapes can escalate quickly when prevention and management lag behind. Existing cooperation between Dutch and Spanish fire services, for example through Netherlands Institute for Public Safety (NIPV) and Catalonian and Galician Fire Services, already provides a practical foundation for building up mastery in managing disasters. Extending this collaboration to ecosystem service valuation and forest bio economy would connect emergency response with long term resilience and investment.

This discussions are relevant, especially towards the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) period. Recognising and rewarding ecosystem services can strengthen the position of Dutch and Spanish farmers and forest owners who invest in trees, hedgerows, agroforestry and other landscape elements. Valuing nature’s services can diversify income beyond commodity production, while contributing to food security, climate goals and rural vitality. On the business side, relevant exchanges can emerge in topics such as remote sensing, GIS and modelling to measure and monitor ecosystem services, for certified timber and bio based construction materials, and for sustainable packaging, even in designing innovative blended finance structures that take ecosystem services and fire risk into account.

The 2026 fire season has made it clear that wildfire risk in southern Europe is not only a local concern, but a European resilience issue. At the same time, it has highlighted the underused potential of forests as providers of water, carbon storage, biodiversity and rural development, not only for Spain itself, but also for Europe’s strategic autonomy. We must build partnerships that strengthen climate resilience and strategic autonomy. How we manage and value forests will shape the future of European agriculture and the bio economy.