Fires in Galicia are caused by deforestation and brush clearing, the removal of indigenous fauna, and arsonists. The fires have been occurring since the mid-1990s. [1] Fires in Galicia represent 50% of the area burned each year in Spain and 40% of all fires. [1]
With the first fire, hundreds and thousands succeeded, cataloging several provinces of Galicia as a catastrophic area [2]
On Sunday 15 October 2017, [3] Galicia experienced an unusual heat wave at that time of the year, and shortly after noon the heat, the relative humidity of the air formula 30/30/30 = forest fire [4] (More than 30 degrees temperature, less than 30% humidity and winds of more than 30 kilometers per hour.) activated the alarm of extreme risk of fires in the southern area of the Galician country.
Galician biologist Xabier Vázquez Pumariño [5] among other scientific, claim for the eradicate the proliferation of new eucalyptus plantations and unnatural invasive species of the Galician ecosystem. That kind of business give profit to many people earning millions of euros but destroying the native forests, [6] also there is a liking of pollution in the sea (Ence, Celulosa, Paper pulp mill in Pontevedra). The eucalyptus grow fast and takes a lot of water [7] [8]
The brush clearing, the lack of autochthonous Galician horses that eat the gorse and help to clean the forest, the disastrous forestry policy, the contracts in aircraft rentals, the lack of means and brigades for the extinction, or the increase of the plantation of eucalyptus that devastates the mountains and forests where there used to be native trees that protected it from fire.
According to the media and experts, [9] fires in Galicia could be avoided if there were means and an effective plan to avoid them. Another major problem that has not been solved is the emerging plantation of eucalyptus, an invasive species from Australia that destroys the land and is a business that proliferates among many owners of forests, to supply the only pulp company in Pontevedra, being many years, the point of attention among ecologists and people living from the collection of shellfish in the estuary of Pontevedra.
The Galician Government began a compensation initiative to encourage the substitution of eucalyptus for native vegetation or to achieve its elimination in those areas where, by nature, no type of plantation existed. [10] In Portugal and Galicia, ecologists, schools and environmental protection groups have taken the initiative [11] to uproot the eucalyptus and plant other species. This is the case of Ferraria de Sao Joao, a village in the municipality of Penela (Portugal), which was threatened by recent large forest fires that devastated thousands of hectares, a threat that Casal de Sao Simao also suffered, so both decided to act to protect its population by uprooting eucalyptus. In addition, environmentalists in the area denounce the lack of control over illegal plantations of this alien arboreal species. [12]
In Galicia and Portugal, brigades of dissatisfied citizens have been created to remove the eucalyptus shoots. [13]
United Nations (UN) recognizes the recovering of natural spaces in the mountains of Froxán and Santiago de Covelo - in A Coruña municipality of Lousame and Covelo (Pontevedra), respectively. They have become the first in Spain and third in Europe to enter the ICCA registry, under the United Nations Program United for the Environment. This international distinction recognizes those natural spaces that are managed, recovered or rehabilitated effectively by local or indigenous communities. [14]
Eucalyptus is a support for the expansion of Velutina wasp, due to the high altitude of this species [15] and to be a perennial leaf that protects and camouflages throughout the year. This insect kills bees of honey that affects beekeepers and has already become a plague [16] and also kill people. [17]
Photographer Delmi Alvarez documented the fires and their aftermaths starting in 2006 in a project called Queiman Galiza (Burn Galicia). Alvarez experimented with other photojournalists one of the most tragic days documenting fires. [3]
Galicia is an autonomous community of Spain and historic nationality under Spanish law. Located in the northwest Iberian Peninsula, it includes the provinces of A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense, and Pontevedra.
Ourense is a province of Spain, in the southeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Pontevedra to the west, Lugo to the north, León and Zamora, to the east, and by Portugal to the south. With an area of 7,278 square km., it is the only landlocked province in Galicia. The provincial capital, Ourense, is the largest population centre, with the rest of the province being predominantly rural.
Pontevedra is a city in the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of both the Comarca and Province of Pontevedra, and the capital of the Rías Baixas. It is also the capital of its own municipality which is often considered an extension of the actual city.
The Ons Island is the main island of a small archipelago in the Ria de Pontevedra in Galicia, Spain. Ons belongs administratively to the municipality of Bueu, which has a regular ferry boat connection to the island, as have the mainland towns of Portonovo, Sanxenxo, Marín and Aldán. In 2020, lightning due to Subtropical Storm Alpha started a forest fire.
Resistência Galega, sometimes referred to as REGA, is the term used by a series of left-wing and Galician separatist organisations and individuals to claim attacks in Galicia. The term was first used in 2005 when a manifesto named Manifesto da Resistência Galega appeared on the Internet. Since then, Resistência Galega has carried out dozens of attacks against political party offices and banks across Galicia.
The Covo Island, better known as the Island of Sculptures or Illa das Esculturas in Galician, is a park and island located near the mouth of the Lérez River, in Pontevedra, Spain. It has an area of 70,000 m² and is connected to both banks of the river by footbridges and pedestrian bridges. It is the largest and most important open-air museum in Galicia and one of the most important in Spain.
The Convent of St. Clare is a former cloistered convent of the Order of Poor Clares, located in the city centre of Pontevedra, Spain, precisely in Santa Clara Street, near the disappeared St. Clare Gate of the medieval city walls. Founded in 1271, the convent closed in 2017. In 2021 the City Council bought the building from the Order, and in 2023 it transferred it to the Provincial Deputation to become part of the Pontevedra Museum.
The Natural Park of the Marismas de Alba, the Alba Marsh or the Xunqueira de Alba, is a natural park and wetland in the city of Pontevedra in Spain, and one of the few Marshes in the Ria de Pontevedra. It is a park used as a place for walking, cycling and observing the fauna and flora.
Campolongo is a neighbourhood in the city of Pontevedra (Spain). It has a residential, administrative, educational and commercial function.
The Palace of Lourizán is a manor house in Herbalonga in the civil parish of Lourizán, in Pontevedra, Spain.
The Botanical Garden of Lourizán is an arboretum of some 54 hectares in the municipality of Pontevedra in Spain. It has more than 850 catalogued species and one of the largest collections in Spain. It is the most important botanical garden in Galicia.
The Central Market of Pontevedra is a covered market located in Pontevedra, Spain. It is located at the north-eastern edge of the historic centre, close to the Burgo Bridge. It overlooks the banks of the Lérez river and was inaugurated in 1948.
The Administrative building of the Xunta de Galicia in Pontevedra is an office complex designed to house the various public services of the Galician Government in Pontevedra, Spain. The building houses many of the Galician administration's departments and was designed by the architects Manuel Gallego Jorreto and Jacobo Rodríguez-Losada Allende.
The historic centre of Pontevedra (Spain) is the oldest part of the city. It is the second most important old town in Galicia after Santiago de Compostela, and was declared a historic-artistic complex on 23 February 1951.
The Convent of St. Francis is a Franciscan convent located in the city centre of Pontevedra (Spain), overlooking the Plaza de la Herrería. The Gothic church of San Francis is attached to the convent on the southeast side.
The Plaza de Barcelos is a square dating from the beginning of the 20th century located in the city centre of Pontevedra (Spain), to the east of the historic centre of Pontevedra.
Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores is a Spanish medical doctor and since July 1999, the current Mayor of Pontevedra, representing Galician Nationalist Bloc (BNG)..
The Calle de la Oliva is a street in Pontevedra (Spain) located in the city centre, on the edge of the old town. It is one of the main streets of Pontevedra and one of the most commercial.
The Forest Engineering School of Pontevedra is a university school founded in 1990 in the Spanish city of Pontevedra, based on the campus of A Xunqueira, in the north of the city.
Belvedere Park is a public park in the Monte Porreiro neighbourhood of the Spanish city of Pontevedra.