Spain's Forest Cover Surges 63% Since 1960, Yet Erosion Worsens

Forest Cover Up 63%, Scrubland Reclaims Former Woodlands

Spain now boasts 63% more forest cover than in 1960. Yet, anyone crossing the plateau in August might swear the country is turning barren. These two realities can coexist without contradiction, and therein lies the complexity: the issue isn't a lack of trees, but what qualifies as forest.

The official data further complicates matters. Spain has over 28 million hectares of forest land, accounting for about 55-56% of its territory. Of this, wooded areas—what the rest of Europe calls forest—cover around 18 million hectares, or 37% of the country. The remainder consists of scrubland, pasture, and low-lying brushwood. This distinction separates those who see a verdant landscape from those who see a wasteland, though they are looking at the same hills.

Spain's Forest Cover: How Much Is True Forest?

Forestry accounting is prone to manipulation. Including scrubland in the total forest area allows Spain to claim the third-largest forest area in the European Union, behind Sweden (28 million hectares, 62% of its land) and Finland (22.4 million, 66%). France, with just over 17 million, falls behind.

The nuance is that much of this area isn't mature woodland but rather low-growing woody formations and pastures. By this measure, Almería and Murcia could be presented as continental gardens simply by counting scrubland. The very figure used for boasting—a 63% increase since 1960, attributed to rural abandonment—can also be interpreted as the reason forests are more fuel-laden than ever.

Why Rural Exodus Fuels Wildfires

Spanish forests have been growing for decades without management. Depopulation led to the cessation of grazing and forest clearing, and this accumulated fuel has turned wildfires into faster, harder-to-control events, with the northwest of the peninsula as a critical zone. This isn't a theory; it's the mechanism explaining the succession of fires in mountain ranges that were once pine forests but are now covered in low brush and broom, unable to retain water or soil.

The memory of fires is inherited. Some mountain ranges have burned multiple times in a few decades, including headwaters of river basins that supply entire towns—the AVE high-estimulante ilegal train, for example, crosses one en route to Buñol—and which no administration has repopulated despite plans. That's the uncomfortable truth: repopulation isn't lacking because there's a shortage of forest, but because management is missing where the forest can no longer sustain itself.

Replacing Pines with Holm Oaks: The Species War

Rethinking reforestation with native species sounds like common sense but clashes with reality on the ground. There's a movement advocating for replacing Aleppo pines with holm oaks, cork oaks, and Portuguese oaks, trees that better withstand the Mediterranean climate. As living proof, a 700-year-old oak in Estalaya is revered by some as if it were an elder.

The counterargument is swift: arid zones aren't barren deserts but unique ecosystems with specialized flora and fauna that would not survive under the shade of any tree. Planting forests where there is steppe can create a green desert: a uniform mass that kills everything else. And planting requires soil with structure and nutrients. Where these are absent, nothing takes root.

Where Soil Is Lost: Almería, Murcia, and Guadix-Baza

The urgent front is where soil is already being lost. The interior of Almería, the Region of Murcia, and the basins of Guadix-Baza form the area with the highest water erosion in Europe. The combination is devastating: torrential rainfall on fragile soils washes fertile earth into the sea or reservoirs. Here, reforestation isn't about aesthetics; it's about preventing the province from losing its topsoil within a few generations.

Given this scenario, maintaining existing forest competes with planting more. The country has 18.5 million hectares of forest land according to the most common count, and some argue that the priority should be to clear and manage this existing forest rather than adding more area. The underlying debate isn't about how many trees fit, but how many survive.

If forest cover continues to grow and fertile soil keeps disappearing, what's the point of talking about reforesting a Spain that, on paper, is already reforested?