That part of the population far from the rural and forest world tends to simplify the vision of forest masses to natural spaces far from human intervention and, at most, leisure places for hikers and shelter for flora and fauna. Of course, forests are ecosystems with a great environmental function. But they are much more than that. Are . An adequate intervention in forest engineering and hydrology can be the key between a natural disaster with epic consequences and protection of the population settled in some hot areas of our orography.
Last Tuesday, a storm with a water load and drag force much greater than anything experienced in the past devastated some towns on the Valencian coast and a small part of the La Mancha and Andalusian Community, dragging everything in its path. On this occasion, the , adjacent to these areas, and massive urbanization on surfaces susceptible to flooding worsened its effects. The lack of public-private investment has been one of the reasons for this situation, according to the dean of the Official College of Forestry Engineers of the Valencian Community, Constan Amurrio.
With a very fragmented forest territory, very little or no profitability of the forest, environmental threats and risks of all kinds, aggravated by depopulation and lack of generational change, the forest management necessary to keep the forests in good condition is something really difficult. Foresters and small private forest municipalities (about 70% of the total forest area) cannot alone bear the costs of prevention and restoration actions to, among other things, avoid catastrophes such as torrential floods.
The help of the public administration is therefore required to alleviate this situation and protect citizens. A strong investment in repopulation and forest management is needed to convert the forest surface into resistant and resilient masses, capable of facing extreme climatic phenomena, in addition to a good infrastructure of dams, dams, and reservoirs to improve the situation of the river channels.
One means being better prepared for floods; In the case at hand, rather than only providing a solution where the disaster appears, it is necessary to act where it is generated; that is, at the beginning of the rivers that mark the basins until they flow into the sea. Forest hydrology protects the flooding of the basins most exposed to river overflows, preventing endangering the population, with reforestation and diversification of water channels.
The deep roots of the trees retain the soil, preventing earth movement and allowing it to absorb a greater amount of rain, therefore protecting population centers through lamination and drainage works. The treetops, for their part, do their job, mitigating the humidity that ends up forming clouds loaded with water, the first effect of deforestation.
Abundant riparian vegetation in good condition also reinforces the stabilization of slopes and is “essential” not only to prevent river channels from flowing with excess flow, but also to favor the infiltration of water into the rivers. underground aquifers and thus recharge them.
All of this requires , to favor the formation of sponge territories as hydrological regulators to avoid eroded soils, with measures to stimulate the active management of the mountains, as forest owners have been demanding for years. This represents a minimum investment of one hundred euros per hectare and year, according to the College of Forestry Engineers of Valencia, well above what is currently being dedicated. And, of course, a systematized plan to deal with these overflows that have cost us so many lives in this terrible damage that is already historic due to its strength, but also due to the poor conditions of the terrain. The temperature of the Mediterranean has risen up to two degrees compared to the 80s. We all know that this will have consequences and the danas will return; Therefore, it is urgent to take all the measures in our power to mitigate them.
