In Spain, the period from 2006 to 2025 saw a downward trend in the number of fires, yet the total area affected increased. In August of last year alone, more than 300,000 hectares burned, triggering a national emergency and causing a major social impact. This is explained by author Mercedes Guijarro, a tenured scientist at the Institute of Forest Sciences (ICIFOR, INIA-CSIC) and president of the Spanish Society of Forest Sciences (SECF), in a chapter of the Cajamar monograph “The Forestry Sector and Forest Management in Spain”. This work, the 41st volume in the “Mediterráneo Económico” study series, was presented at the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge in Madrid.
Guijarro explains that Spain has become a major European forestry power, with over half its territory covered by forest areas. However, this growth has not been matched by corresponding management. The abandonment of traditional agricultural and livestock farming, the depopulation of vast rural areas, and the progressive accumulation of biomass have fostered the development of forest stands that are denser, more continuous, and more vulnerable to fire. Consequently, conditions are increasingly favorable for high-intensity fires with a growing capacity to spread.
In this regard, he adds that changing rainfall patterns, characterized by greater irregularity, combined with rising temperatures, will create conditions conducive to more severe and widespread forest fires, driven by the increased volume of fuel exposed to prolonged periods of drought. Climate projections indicate a heightened fire risk, with greater frequency (an increase of 14% to 30% by the end of the century) and longer high-risk seasons. Furthermore, the abandonment of traditional rural activities, both forestry and agricultural, is facilitating the spread of scrub and tree cover, thereby increasing the risk of fire.
In light of this situation, the monograph, coordinated by Francisco Carreño, President of the Confederation of Forest Owner Organizations of Spain (COSE) and the Spanish Forest Sustainability Certification Association (PEFC Spain) and Asunción Cámara, Vice President of the Spanish Society of Forest Sciences, coordinator of “Juntos por los Bosques”, and Associate Professor at the University of Oviedo, argues that prevention must be viewed as a strategic investment rather than a cost. The publication warns of the need to adopt a new approach to the growing risk of forest fires, maintaining that the massive fires occurring with increasing frequency in Mediterranean countries cannot be addressed solely from a suppression perspective; instead, they require a comprehensive strategy based on active land management, prevention, and the economic valorization of forests.
The 17 specialists contributing to this work agree on the need to promote measures such as forest fuel management, the restoration of mosaic landscapes, controlled grazing, prescribed burning, land-use planning, and the restoration of fire-affected areas. The work posits that the effective conservation of forests necessarily entails their management and that a lack of intervention does not always equate to protection. Indeed, this publication provides an in-depth analysis of the key challenges facing the Spanish forestry system and offers a comprehensive overview of the sector from economic, environmental, legal, business, and social perspectives.
The main challenge: managing forests more and better
One of the central messages of the monograph is that the primary issue facing the Spanish forestry system is not a lack of natural resources, but rather insufficient management. Despite the continuous expansion of forest cover over recent decades, a significant gap remains between the productive, environmental, and social potential of the forests and their actual utilization.
The authors point out that this situation stems from a combination of economic, organizational, and social factors that hinder resource mobilization and limit the capacity for action on the land. Consequently, the work proposes moving beyond the traditional view that has kept agricultural and forestry policies separate, advocating instead for an integrated strategy that fosters greater economic activity and enhances forest management capacity.
During the presentation of the work, in which María Torres-Quevedo, Deputy Director of Forest Policy and Combating Desertification at the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge; Roberto García Torrente, Director General of Sustainability and Agri-food Development at BCC-Grupo Cajamar and director of the “Mediterráneo Económico” studies series; and Asunción Cámara, the work's coordinator, participated—the speakers highlighted the strategic importance of Spanish forests for the ecological transition, biodiversity conservation, and territorial cohesion.
María Torres-Quevedo has highlighted that “the vision of the Spanish Forestry Strategy is for Spain to have properly managed forests by 2050, that is, forests that are well-preserved, more resilient to climate change, and protected against major threats (such as forest abandonment, fires, diseases, and pests) while providing the goods and ecosystem services essential for our well-being. The Cajamar special report underscores this need for management, as well as the link between the bioeconomy and the demographic challenge, the role of forest owners, and the need to foster employment in the forestry sector”.
In this vein, Roberto García Torrente noted that “with this issue, we wanted to highlight the opportunities generated by the forestry sector to drive economic and social activity in rural areas, many of which are plagued by serious depopulation issues. However, we also wanted to emphasize that forests require human intervention for their protection and recovery. Undoubtedly, we must now focus more on this latter aspect in an effort to prevent the loss of human lives and the lives of the many animals trapped by fire”.
And he added: “The generous rainfall this past winter and spring, combined with the extremely dry and hot summer, created the conditions necessary for fires to spread rapidly and become difficult to control. Now more than ever, we need forests to help mitigate climate change. After all, if nearly 400,000 hectares burn, as happened in 2025, the efforts we are making to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are of little avail. In Spain, annual emissions resulting from human activity amount to around 280 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. The fires of 2025 resulted in the emission of an additional 43 million tonnes”.
Subsequently, the publication’s coordinators, Francisco Carreño and Asunción Cámara, presented the volume's key contents and explained the need to move toward forest management that is more active, planned, and economically viable in order to address current environmental and social challenges.
In this regard, Francisco Carreño remarked: “At Cajamar, we are presenting a pioneering initiative driven by many goals and aspirations: raising the profile of the forestry sector across every sphere we can reach; bringing new entities and stakeholders into a collaborative commitment to the sector; and integrating forest lands into the primary sector alongside agriculture to manage the landscape efficiently and optimize the supply of goods and services it generates. We need broad social support to tackle the many varied challenges we face and to achieve these objectives”.
For her part, Asunción Cámara explained that “this special issue stems from a very simple conviction: Spain possesses one of Europe’s richest forest heritages, yet we continue to manage it far below its potential, entailing significant risks. It is not a problem of natural resources, but one of priorities. Behind every forest stand the silviculturists, technicians, and owners who sustain the land with very little recognition; our goal with this issue is precisely to give voice to that reality and to demonstrate, through data and examples of successful practices, that active forest management is not only possible but urgent. We need to view forestry as a matter of state policy with a long-term vision, rather than an issue addressed piecemeal from one legislative term to the next”.
Ownership fragmentation and resource mobilization
The publication also pays special attention to one of the sector's key structural constraints: the high degree of fragmentation in private forest ownership. The atomization of land parcels, the low profitability of many operations, the aging of owners, and administrative complexity hinder the planning and execution of large-scale forestry activities.
To address this challenge, the monograph highlights the role of forestry associations, joint management, and the figure of the "active forest manager" as fundamental tools for increasing the sector's operational scale. The authors consider cooperation among landowners and the professionalization of forestry activities to be essential conditions for enhancing competitiveness and ensuring more efficient, sustainable land management.
Furthermore, the work calls for greater recognition of the ecosystem services provided by forests, such as carbon sequestration, water regulation, biodiversity conservation, soil protection, and natural hazard prevention. These benefits are vital to society as a whole, yet they are not yet adequately reflected in the income of those who manage these areas.
The forest bioeconomy as a driver of rural development
Another key focus of the publication is the potential of the forest bioeconomy to generate economic activity, employment, and wealth in rural areas. The volume identifies significant opportunities linked to timber, biomass, cork, resin, forest fruits, mushrooms, forest certification, carbon credits, and new biomaterials.
The study argues that these resources can serve as drivers of sustainable development and help strengthen the local business fabric, provided there is adequate forest management and a value chain capable of transforming available resources into higher value-added products. In this context, forestry companies are identified as key players in implementing management policies and strategies at the local level, as well as in generating local employment and retaining populations in rural areas.
It also highlights the role of forestry companies, predominantly SMEs, as essential agents in implementing prevention measures on the ground. Their activities enable the execution of silvicultural treatments, restoration, reforestation, harvesting, firebreaks, preventive infrastructure, and conservation work, while simultaneously generating local employment and economic activity in rural areas.
More coordinated governance to address global change
The monograph also focuses on forest governance, highlighting that forest management requires greater coordination among public authorities, landowners, businesses, research centers, and civil society. The authors call for regulatory stability, administrative simplification, adequate funding, and incentives that enable long-term planning in a sector where cycles far exceed political timeframes.
Likewise, it highlights the importance of forestry communication in conveying the value of forests to the public and explaining that sustainable management is an essential tool for enhancing their resilience in the face of climate change, biodiversity loss, and the growing risk of wildfires.
To conclude, a round table discussion titled "Spanish Forests Facing Their Challenges: Management, Economics, and Global Change" was held. It was moderated by Ignacio Atance, Director of the Studies and Publications Service at the Fundación Grupo Cajamar, and featured the following participants: environmental journalist and creator/former director of EFEverde.com, Arturo Larena; the Director General for Biodiversity and Forest Management of the Community of Madrid, Irene Aguiló; environmental sustainability consultant at Analistas Financieros Internacionales, Ana Rodríguez; the Director of Carbon2Nature for Spain and Portugal, Álvaro García; and the Director of the Fundación Gómez-Pintado, Ana Elisa Rodríguez.
The meeting addressed key challenges associated with forest management, the green economy, and adaptation to global change, highlighting that Spain's forests constitute essential green infrastructure for the country's economic, social, and environmental future. It was also emphasized that the sustainable management of more than half of the national territory requires knowledge, investment, innovation, and public-private collaboration, as well as a long-term vision capable of ensuring its conservation and utilization for future generations.
Ultimately, through this publication, Cajamar aims to contribute to the public debate on the future of the Spanish forestry sector, highlighting the need for a long-term vision that goes beyond reactive responses to emergencies. Fire prevention, sustainable forest management, and public-private collaboration emerge as essential elements for protecting a natural heritage that is, at the same time, vital green infrastructure for Spain’s economic, social, and environmental future.
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