At time of writing the wildfires are still burning in northern Portugal and Spain but thankfully appear to be under control, although sadly it is believed that at least 7 people have lost their lives as a result of the fires.

According to a report from Copernicus, these wildfires have already released the highest level of carbon emissions for September in the 22 years of the dataset.

What caused the wildfires in Portugal?

At this point we can only speculate as to the cause of the wildfires in Portugal, although for a lot of people who are aware of the tree cover in the areas affected it's hard to look beyond the impact of eucalytpus. But there are other potential reasons behind these too.

Reason 1 - Climate Change

With abnormally long, dry seasons in summer - with periods of excessive heat in summer and then heavy rainfall in winter seasons, it's hard to look beyond the impact of climate change.

This summer in both Portugal and Galicia summer has been slow to begin, but now after a period of very dry weather and strong winds this has likely lead to the initial fires being started.

Reason 2 - Arson by locals

According to Reuters there have been arrests made for 14 suspected arsonists - although the police stated that these fires were started at nighttime, after the original fires had begun.

Reasons for starting the fires vary, from farmers wanting to clear vegetation from land, to people wanting to reduce the price of land, later purchasing it at a vastly reduced rate. A study from the forest fires in 2017 showed that arson was responsible for nearly 36% of the wildfires that killed 45 people. This was the same proportion as that used by farmers to clear land.

Reason 3 - Rural Depopulation

As a result of many people leaving the villages of both Portugal and Spain (including Galicia), largely due to economic reasons, large areas of land are abandoned and any stone firebreaks aren't maintained - they get covered by vegetation.

Without proper land management or people in the area to watch the land (or to deter arsonists), this becomes more of an issue when it comes to wildfires.

Underbrush is the term used to describe the plants that grow below plantations, and landowners are forced (at least in Galicia) to maintain these areas - because of the fire threat they pose.

And this leads to the question - surely a native, more natural local environment would prevent these fires from spreading so fiercely?

Reason 4 - Eucalyptus Plantations (and the Paper/Pulp industry)

According to reports, most northern Portugal tree plantations are made up of a mixture of few trees - with one study showing that pine (pinus pinaster) and eucalyptus make up two thirds (or 64.9%) of all the total forest land.

We would argue that the eucalyptus cover needs to be reduced and a larger amount of area needs to be passed over to the native trees which have been shown to be far more effective at preventing such a fast spread of fire.

With more careful planning of the tree plantations, which are ultimately going for paper and pulp production, often travelling half way around the world to places like China, there could be a far more sustainable, ecologically improved and far safer way for eucalyptus to still be grown.

Climaxo, a Portuguese based climate activism website reported recently that many residents in Portugal have taken to the streets of their local towns to protest at the paper production plants that they feel are to blame for these fires.

As these wildfires become more and more prevalent across Europe, with many having affected Galicia already in 2024, surely more needs to be done by the companies that profit from eucalyptus plantations, and by the Galician government, to reduce the threat of wildfires to the local residents?

Forgeting the devastating ecological impacts of such widespread fires, as these fires continue to take the lives of the people living in the area (and the brave firefighters who are tasked with dealing with these fires), surely there is no better time for action to reduce the numbers of eucalyptus plantations?

How Rewilding can help to prevent the spread of wildfire

We don't want to be insensitive to the lives of the people who've lost loved ones from these fires - and we wouldn't want to use such a tragedy to "push" rewilding as a way to completely prevent wildfires - but it's hard to see how it can't help in such situations.

By reducing the use of a non-native, highly flammable tree like eucalyptus, and replacing it with native tree species that are suited to the Iberian peninsula, which in turn benefit local wildlife (and could benefit local people through agro and ecotourism opportunities), these native trees could act as natural firebreaks.

When a fire is raging in an already very dry landscape, as a result of climate change impacts, and then it encouters endless eucalyptus monoculture plantations, it really is a nightmare scenario for everyone involved.

Rewilding is positive action - by removing any non-native trees, and encouraging the growth of native trees, plants and animals, the native ecosystem can be restored and this can be shown to naturally hold back any fires that do breakout. That's not to say that wildfires won't happen - but they shouldn't have such a devastating impact as the ones that involve eucalyptus.