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Date Published: 29/11/2024

Drought decimates almost a million Murcia trees

The Region of Murcia is now facing an environmental crisis due to the severe lack of rain

The torrential rains brought on by the DANA last month are still fresh in everyone’s minds, and the Region of Murcia has also seen its fair share of wet weather in the last few weeks. But these brief downpours have done little to alleviate the ongoing drought conditions in southern Spain and the impact that this severe lack of water is having on the trees in Murcia has become an urgent concern, one that is growing worse by the day.

In a session held on Wednesday November 27, the Minister of the Environment, Juan María Vázquez, presented an updated report on the crisis that has been steadily deteriorating.

Less than a month ago, it was reported that 700,000 trees across 20,000 hectares had been affected by the lack of rainfall. Today, that number has skyrocketed to nearly 1 million trees across 23,000 hectares.

The majority of the trees affected are Aleppo pines, the dominant species in the regional mountains. The figures are alarming, and Mr Vázquez pointed out that the current situation now rivals the worst droughts in recent history.

"By the end of October, it was already comparable to the drought episode between 1994 and 1996, which affected 850,000 trees that had to be cut down, and it is approaching the episode from 2014 to 2017, with 1,200,000 trees cut down," explained Mr Vázquez.

But this is more than just a loss of greenery. With the trees now struggling to survive, they have gone from being carbon fixers to carbon emitters, contributing to a worsening environmental crisis. Additionally, the stressed trees have become targets for pests, particularly boring insects, which burrow into the trunks and further threaten the health of the forest.

"We don't know how much longer the drought we are experiencing will continue. In a few days we will have our forest control strategy in place against this drought for the next two years, because what we are sure of is that during the next two years, if the rainy season were to return to normal tomorrow, we would have to continue to intervene due to the effects that have already occurred," he added.

He acknowledged the complexity of the task, as it’s impossible to water all 86 million trees, but efforts are being made to remove the most affected and the government has 400 forestry brigade members working tirelessly to manage the crisis.

Find all the latest weather and climate change news here or join our Murcia Weather Watch Facebook group for regular updates

Image: Murcia Natural

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