Joan Santana is head of the Balearic Government's forest management service, which is closely involved with the annual summer campaign for fire prevention. The high-risk season starts on the first of May in Mallorca, a fortnight later than last year. The reasons, he explains, are the wet spring and well-distributed rainfall. 2025 contrasts with 2023 and 2024 when there was a lack of rainfall and there were many dry and dead trees. He observes that Mediterranean vegetation is adapted to drought - "but it can't withstand everything, especially the continued droughts caused by climate change".
Santana points to figures which indicate a significant increase in forest area over the past 50 or so years. For the whole of the Balearics, this was by 26% between 1971 and 2010 - up to 220,000 hectares, of which 185,000 were actual forest and the rest scrubland. There is to be an update from the National Forest Inventory, and the amount of forest will be higher.
"In the Tramuntana Mountains alone there was an increase of 78%. We have more forests and they are denser. The problem is that we are turning our backs on the forest, we are not taking advantage of them as a resource. And if forests are not managed, they become a ticking time bomb. Forest areas in the Balearics are growing at a rate of 1,100 hectares each year due to the abandonment of primary activities, and that means a loss of three hectares of agricultural land every day. We'll have gone from 34 to 67 million trees. We have 2,260 more forest trees every day, which translates into 127,500 cubic metres more forest mass each year. As I say, it's a time bomb."
He worries about fires being beyond control. "There could come a time when a large fire defies the ability to manage it, no matter how many means you use, as has been seen in the US. Effective response to these large fires needs conditions to change radically - more moisture, lower temperatures and fires reaching areas with limited plant fuel. But we have densities of 45 tonnes of accumulated biomass per hectare, when the ideal would be 15-20."
While there have been large fires in parts of the Mediterranean in the past two to three years, there haven't been in the Balearics. Santana attributes this to various factors. "There is greater public awareness about prevention. We have a highly professional and well-trained operation. It is highly specialised and with a rapid response capacity. But we've also had a bit of luck."
Although fire suppression is the answer, the real solution lies with prevention. In this regard he points out that property owners are more aware of risks. "Having a house in a forest area requires thinning out vegetation within a 30-metre radius around the property. Having pine trees right next to a house is extremely reckless, and gardens must have plants and structures that won't spread fire. A forest is not a backdrop but a dynamic landscape. We must overcome an urban vision of the natural landscape.
"Since 2018, property owners have been receiving subsidies for prevention work. Our work benefits from tourist tax funding - 3.3 million euros over three to four years for a prevention infrastructure. This involves the improvement and maintenance of public ways, new water tanks, and the creation of new firebreaks. There is a further 3.6 million euros of tax revenue for the management and local consumption of biomass, which can be used to fuel boilers. We need to identify potential large consumers of biomass, including those in the tourism sector, so that it can be used."