The summer of 2025 leaves us with a devastating balance: according to the satellite system Copernicus, In Spain, more than 403,000 hectares and, across Europe, more than one million hectares. The magnitude of the figures is impressive, and yet we run the risk of doing what we always do: now that the flames have finally died down and the cool of autumn is peeking through, we will begin to forget… until next summer.
But the fires don't disappear with the news; biomass continues to accumulate in the mountains and the risk will become even greater if we don't act.
As with every season, discussions, articles, and opinions about forest fires, responsibilities, and solutions have proliferated. This issue is similar to what happens with the national football team: we all think we know who should play, who's underperforming, and what solutions to implement.
Fortunately, on this occasion, many media outlets have given a voice to highly prestigious forestry professionals, and their diagnoses are consistent and clear: climate change aggravates the situation, but the underlying problem lies in the accumulation of fuel in our forests, the result of decades of rural abandonment and lack of active management.
Forestry engineers and foresters like Marc Castellnou, Arantza Pérez Oleaga, Víctor Resco de Dios, and Ana Belén Noriega have been warning about this for some time: some fires are so intense that they are impossible to extinguish until weather conditions change or the fire reaches more manageable areas. And faced with this reality, more aircraft or firefighting crews are not enough; the only way forward is manage the landscape, reducing available biomass and diversifying land use.
In Spain, only one takes advantage less than 40% of annual wood growth, which has caused the stock of standing timber to duplicate in just a few decades. In other words, millions of tons of biomass accumulate each year, going unused and eventually burning. However, our country has industries capable of sustainably absorbing twice the amount currently used, generating local employment and renewable energy.
The Bioenergy is a key piece in this equation
Giving energy use to pruning, thinning or cutting waste means two things at once: facilitating forest management tasks -because someone pays to collect and transport that biomass- and generating renewable energy that replaces imported gas and diesel. In other words, we reduce the risk of fires while gaining energy sovereignty and generating local employment.
Countries like Portugal are already implementing this, installing biomass boilers in municipalities at high risk of fire to take advantage of forest surpluses and, incidentally, heat public buildings with clean energy.
Therefore, the Spanish Bioenergy Association has proposed very specific measures: to build at least [number missing] by 2030 200 new heating and cooling networks using forest biomass (2,800 MW), which would allow mobilization 1.2 million tons of biomass per year; replace 500,000 obsolete heating units by modern biomass devices, with an estimated consumption of 530,000 tons additional; and lift 150 MW of electricity in 10-25 MW power plants in critical forest areas, capable of absorbing biomass where it is most needed to reduce its density.
It is a investment with multiple returnsLess fuel waiting to burn in the forests, more economic activity in rural Spain, and less energy dependence on foreign sources. And as forestry professionals themselves point out, this is nothing new: we've been highlighting the need for better and more efficient management for decades. The difference is that now the urgency is paramount.
The Forum on Forests and Climate Change estimates that, even without yet reaching the European average for harvesting (67%), Spain could already be mobilizing by 2030 five million additional tons of biomass each year, and by 2050 until 10 million.
It's not about inventing anything new, but about to make a reality what forestry technicians and bioenergy professionals have been demanding for decades. Manage the forests, find uses for their resources, revive extensive livestock farming, and link all of this to energy and social projects that will revitalize rural areas.
Therefore, politicians, listen to those who know the land. Listen to the forestry technicians and professionals, and finally establish policies and funding that will allow to truly prevent. Because continuing to rely solely on extinction is a short-term fix that will lead to long-term problems.