SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA – An estimated 250,000 animals have died in the more than 20,000 hectares of nature destroyed by the forest fires. The Franz Weber Foundation bases this estimate on the predictive models of the University of Sydney (Australia).
Researchers there estimate that there are between ten and fifteen individuals living together per hectare. This includes every kind of mammal, invertebrates, birds and other small living things. “To this must be added those animals that have not been able to escape from livestock farms. And also family animals such as dogs, cats or small rodents,” the foundation said in a statement.
Also read: Numerous active wildfires in Spain in what is already almost a record year
Humanity is heading for disaster
For this reason, he warns that “if the climate crisis is not tackled in a serious enough way, humanity will be heading for an unmitigated disaster. The record temperatures and major fires during these weeks in Galicia have already shown this”. The NGO defends the ban on hunting in burned areas and the intervention through renaturalisation actions.
On the other hand, the environmental association Arco Iris is requesting an indefinite postponement of the installation of new wind farms. And also it wants the suspension of the wind farms currently being processed. “The current condition of the affected surfaces does not allow the use of machines of any kind, much less used for the installation of wind farms,” the association warns.
Volunteers clean forests instead of the government
In addition, the environmental group Verdegaia says that on July 23 their people will start working in Froxán to clean the forests by removing dead material and exotic species such as eucalyptus. According to the environmental group, governments should also focus more on this.
Demonstration in Ourense
For these reasons, the defence committee of Monte Galego has called for a demonstration today, Thursday, July 21 in Ourense. It will demonstrate under the slogan “Fire, never again”. They want to denounce the state of neglect” and “lack of foresight” by the government towards the state of the forests and the wildfires.
Lack of transparent information from the government
The environmental groups blame the authorities for a lack of transparency regarding the fires. For example, the total number of affected hectares is not clear. The same goes for information about the number of active outbreaks. In addition, it was decided not to report on fires of less than 20 hectares
