The current landscape of Galicia is the result of the expansion of wooded areas throughout the twentieth century. During the last decades, the space dedicated to agricultural production has been reduced, and has given way to continuous areas occupied by bush and trees, large continuous concentrations of biomass, which considerably increase the risk of large fires. Instruments such as those provided for in Law 11/2021, of May 14, on the recovery of Galicia's agricultural land, aim to counteract these major trends locally and allow agricultural and livestock holdings access to a territorial base suitable for their viability.
However, the relationship between biophysical constraints, socioeconomic context, and land use/cover changes is complex. An analysis of recent changes (2005-2017) allowed us to identify four patterns of land use at municipal level that reflect a strong spatial specialization: an area where most of the population lives (1), an area dedicated to forestry production (2), another dedicated to agricultural production (3) and a last one dominated by the plant cover of spontaneous origin (4). These four areas follow a decreasing gradient of population density and economic activity. Although the patterns of land use in different areas can be largely explained by biophysical suitability, the fragmentation of land ownership appeared as a relevant factor, which can explain the greater presence of agricultural land abandonment — and therefore greater risk of fires— in certain areas.
The results have implications of interest for the application of the agricultural land recovery law. Thus, the instruments aimed at reducing the continuity of fuel (agroforestry polygons, model villages) seem more urgent in the domain of trees and semi-natural vegetation (clusters 2 and 4). On the contrary, instruments aimed primarily at improving the structure of current farms (land bank, farm bank) should probably be concentrated in the space already dominated by the agricultural sector (cluster 1 and 3). It is also evident the importance of supporting the active management of common lands in order to boost the economic activity of mountain areas.
Reference: Corbelle-Rico, E., López-Iglesias, E.. 2024. "Farmland Abandonment and Afforestation—Socioeconomic and Biophysical Patterns of Land Use Change at the Municipal Level in Galicia, Northwest Spain". Land 13, no. 9: 1394. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3390/land13091394