Spain's 'Hunger Plateau' myth debunked by forest data

Spain's 'Hunger Plateau' myth debunked by forest data

Claiming that the Meseta del Hambre (Hunger Plateau), a colloquial term for inland Spain, lacks the minimum conditions to sustain life is completely false. At least when looking at objective data on forest area, tree density, and agricultural production. However, the perception of an arid and hostile landscape persists, fueled by personal experiences and literature that portrays the plain as a hell of dust and sun.

The numbers of inland green Spain

Castilla y León is the autonomous community with the largest forest area in Spain: 14.38% of the national total, according to regional government data. The region holds 1.171 billion trees, almost double that of Andalusia (603 million), and has a density of 12,427 trees per square kilometer, compared to 6,883 in the southern region. Even its wooded area exceeds that of Switzerland. A discussion forum summarizes this with one figure: Castilla y León has over 700,000 forest owners, with an average area of 6.73 hectares per owner.

But it is not all woodland: the combined agrarian GDP of Castilla y León and Castilla-La Mancha equals that of Andalusia, despite having half the population. The alfalfa from these lands is even exported to Saudi Arabia. Far from the desert cliché, the plateau produces wheat, barley, sunflower, and wine.

The 24-kilometer continuous forest

In the province of León, at the end of a village, begins a forest 24 kilometers long and 4 or 5 wide. Unnamed, unmarked, with centuries-old trees. Its defenders assure that no such continuous forest exists anywhere in England. They insist that Castilla y León has a larger forest mass than the entire United Kingdom, including Scotland, where wind-dominated treeless grassland prevails. The key is not a lack of vegetation, but its management: thousands of private hectares are plowed year after year, keeping the soil bare and eroded, when simply allowing ground-cover species to act would re-green large areas.

The literary myth and administrative reality

The image of a barren plain, of lunar dust and sun that scorches even stones, owes much to literature. Fragments of Juan Rulfo set in Mexico are cited to describe the Toledo Sagra. Some recall that the plateau was always a natural dryland, worsened by historical fires and massive deforestation during the Middle Ages and the 19th century. But the reality is that inland Spain is one of the most wooded regions in Europe. Paradoxically, it also burns the most forest area: Zamora tops fire rankings. Fire, not climate, is the true enemy.

Is there life on the plateau?

Yes, and in abundance. It is another matter that the dispersed settlement model, aging villages, and lack of services make life hard. But the diagnosis that the land cannot sustain life is a statistical error. Data on forest area and agricultural production contradict it. The question is not whether the plateau is habitable, but how to reverse depopulation and negative perception. With well-planned reforestation – not just pines – and the introduction of fauna like bears, wolves, or bison, some propose turning the plateau into a great forest. Others dream of an inland sea. In the short term, the plateau will likely remain what it is: a territory of contrasts, with huge green expanses and others that seem taken from Mars. But there is a vast gap between that and saying it harbors no life.