Throughout the year, numerous institutions proclaim different dates with the same objective: to celebrate the existence of all kinds of trees and, at the same time, raise awareness about the importance of their conservation, inside and outside the forests, in the mountains or in the cities.
In the 1960s, the World Forestry Congress agreed that World Tree Day should be commemorated on June 28 in order to recognise it as a vital element of the planet. Later, in 2012, the United Nations proclaimed March 21 as the International Day of Forests, also known as World Forest Day. Since then, this celebration has been consolidating with increasing global repercussion, because it is necessary for all of humanity to remember the importance of the tree in our daily lives and in the survival of our world. In fact, and in addition to this international commemoration, a large number of nations have their own Arbor Day since, in 1840, Sweden was the first country to proclaim it nationally.
All in all, June 28 is World Tree Day, and in this way homage is paid to an individual protagonist of a large part of the processes associated with life on the planet, but also to the development of the human being as a social being. In any case, the tree —as an individual or as part of the forest, a natural society of which the tree is the fundamental unit— is essential for life on our planet.
Hermann Hesse said “Whoever knows how to talk to them, who knows how to listen to them, learns the truth. They do not preach doctrines and recipes; they preach indifferent to detail, the primitive law of life”.
That “primitive law of life” is being altered by human activity. This is confirmed by the effects that the increase in average temperatures on the planet, global warming or climate change is causing.
Due to the geographical location of our country, Spain is a country that is highly affected by disturbances, suffering increases in the number and importance of forest fires, more frequent and prolonged periods of drought or extreme weather events that cause flooding. In addition, Spain has been enduring, for years, a dangerous advance of aridity, which is slowly increasing desertification. This serious phenomenon already affects, to a greater or lesser extent, more than two thirds of the Spanish territory, all without mentioning the direct loss of human life that it causes.
This 2023 is especially complicated by the previous months of drought and the foreseeable high summer temperatures. On the other hand, the coincidence of rains in June has facilitated the growth of herbaceous species, which when withered will be a dangerous fuel in the mountains. Currently, according to MITECO data, 2023 is the year with the largest area burned in the last decade, more than 48,000 hectares, which could reach close to 60,000 when the data from the serious fire in Pinofranqueado (Cáceres) is included.
In Spain, the mountains —and the trees they inhabit— are of vital importance: the Spanish forest area is estimated at around 28 million hectares (54.4% of the Spanish area), of which around 18 million hectares are wooded.
With these parameters, in Spain, the National Security body emphasises that the preservation of the environment and the conservation of nature are essential, at least if we understand National Security in its most modern concept reflected in the National Security Law of 2015 in its article 3: “… National Security shall be understood as the action of the State aimed at protecting the freedom, rights and well-being of citizens… “, or even more clearly in the Comprehensive Plan for the Culture of National Security , of 2021: “…It is essential that citizens participate in and be jointly responsible for National Security, for their own security. To achieve this, it is essential that they reach a broad and informed knowledge of our environment, of the threats and challenges that loom over our daily lives …”.
For all these reasons, the most “strategic” state plans in these areas are transcendental for National Security, with special significance of the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change (PNACC), but also, in this area, plans such as the Spanish Forest Plan 2022-2032 , the National Control Plan for the Legality of Timber Marketed in Spain , the National Strategy for Green Infrastructure and Ecological Restoration and Connectivity , the Strategies for the Conservation of Forest Genetic Resources , the Spanish Forest Strategy horizon 2050 or the National Strategy to Combat Desertification, among others.
And to strengthen this national approach, the National Security Strategy 2021 (ESN21) establishes the “Preservation of the environment, sustainable development and fight against climate change” as a national objective, but also considers, under the heading “catastrophes and emergencies” , that ” Factors that enhance the risk of emergencies and catastrophes are both rural depopulation and the overpopulation of some cities, the degradation of the ecosystem aggravated by the effects of climate change…”
Apart from these more or less explicit quotes about the importance of ecosystems, which are largely dependent on trees; the indirect influence on many of the other risks and threats listed in ESN21 is transcendental. Thus, ecosystem services and forest production are important in the fight against rural depopulation; and, with it, for the preservation of the environment. In addition, the protective role of watersheds is essential to ensure not only the reduction in the importance of floods and floods, but also to preserve the capacity of consumption and hydroelectric reservoirs, which produced approximately 6.5% of electricity generation in Spain in 2022.
On the other hand, and with an international approach, the fight against the advance of the desert in the Sahel zone is transcendental to facilitate the life of the populations and, in this way, collaborate so that migratory movements due to economic or environmental needs are not the only alternative for survival in these regions. For these purposes, the project of the Great African Green Wall is very interesting. In the same way, practically all the studies on the risks of pandemics agree that the decrease in biodiversity and the reduction of natural spaces contribute to facilitating the transmission of epidemic diseases between animals and humans.
With all of the above, and finally, we can underline that the situation of the forests in Spain is not entirely bad, although we must always aspire to their constant improvement, care and preservation. Thus, and as the following graph shows, our wooded forest area has grown significantly in the last decade, and this is hopeful data on the day we celebrate the goodness of the tree for the survival of our planet.
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