How should Spain respond to climate change?
Spain is experiencing a summer of extremes: wildfires have burned through 350,000 hectares of land and forced thousands to flee their homes in rural areas, while city dwellers are enduring temperatures well above 40 degrees Celsius. Commentators see the country experiencing the life-threatening consequences of the climate crisis and urge the political leadership to agree on a cross-party state pact.
Political vanities must burn in the flames
Environmental economist Antxon Olabe calls in El País for a political show of strength:
“Our cities, where 81 percent of the population live, must prepare for summers with temperatures of 45 and sometimes even 50 degrees, and nights above 30 degrees. ... Faced with the dilemma of 'adapting or dying', Spain must develop a strategic vision for the country, with ambitious goals for the period up to 2050. It must invest the necessary economic, scientific, technical and human resources to become the most advanced nation in the world when it comes to forest fire prevention and control. We are facing an extraordinary challenge. Let the fires consume the political vanities.”
Everyone complains but no one takes responsibility
El Mundo sees Spain's administrative structure as the main problem:
“The first theory maintains that the right is to blame for the fires: it denies climate change and its austerity policies limit resources. ... According to the second theory it is the left that is to blame: urban progressives are now trying to tell people in rural areas how to manage the land. ... In Spain, everyone yells but no one assumes responsibility. ... We should consider whether the multi-level administration, which has demonstrated how dysfunctional it is time and again, is at all compatible with the state. ... Spain needs a state pact that puts territorial organisation at the service of the common good, efficiency and cooperation, not identity.”
Listen to all arguments
The climate emergency is not the only problem, writes political scientist Astrid Barrio in El Periódico de Catalunya:
“Although climate change is increasing the danger, scale and speed of the fires, it is not their only cause. Rural exodus, changes in the way land is used, negligence and deliberate fires - 31 arrests have been made since 1 June and 85 people are under investigation - also play a role. ... If we really want a state pact for preventing and fighting fires, we need a multi-causal perspective that incorporates those who, quite rightly, question whether only the climate emergency is to blame for the fires.”