Spain Issues First National Forest Strategy

The Spanish environment ministry released Spain’s first national forest strategy since 1957. It includes proposals to launch a reforestation programme and to create a national council to oversee forest management and produce an annual report on the state of Spain’s forests. The strategy will likely be approved within a year in consultation with regional governments, environmental groups and forest industries.

Forests cover just over half of Spain’s land area, which is high by European Union standards, but eight percent suffers from soil erosion. World Wildlife Fund/ADENA is concerned that only five percent of its forests have sustainable management plans and the new strategy does not specify how new initiatives will be funded.