**2. The Galicia Region: A brief overview**

The Autonomous Community of Galicia (NUTS 2) is a Spanish region (NUTS 2) in the northwestern part of the country (**Figure 1**), with a total area of 29.574 km2 and administratively divided into four provinces with a total of 313 municipalities and 3793 parishes, with an average population density of 91.35 hab/km2 spread over more than 30,000 population centers, although the majority of its population is concentrated along the coast [31].

#### *Analyzing the Evolution of Land-Use Changes Related to Vegetation, in the Galicia Region… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106015*

The altitude in Galicia ranges from sea level to nearly 2000 m and the topography includes plains as well as mountain areas with steep valleys [31, 32]. Galicia has two types of climate according to the Köppen–Geiger classification, the Csb (Mediterranean-Oceanica climate) and the Csa (Mediterranean climate) [33]. According to the Spanish official cartography, 69% of Galicia is covered by forestland (the forest terrain, according to the Galician forestry sector authorities, includes woodlands and shrublands) [31, 32]. The dominant tree species are three species of pine (Pinus pinaster, Pinus radiata, Pinus sylvestris), and two Eucalyptus species (Eucalyptus globulus and Eucalyptus nitens) and broadleaves (riparian species, Quercus robur, Quercus pyrenaica and Castanea sativa, among others). The 2015 analysis of the forestry sector indicates that 30% of the forestland was shrublands and rocky areas [32]. The forestry sector represents 3.5% of the Galician GDP and 50% of the timber cuts are Eucalyptus spp. followed by conifers [32]. Galician land forest is highly fragmented. According to official cadastral information, it is estimated that 162,188 ha are in cadastral parcels that are smaller than 0.5 ha [31, 32]; this accounts for approximately 40% of the land covered by the main productive tree species in Galicia.

Therefore, the study area is a region of extensive agroforestry tradition and high potential productivity [34], being approximately 61% (1.8 million ha) of its forest area territory [34]. With more than 1.4 million wooded hectares, and average growth of 12.3 million m3 per year of wood, Galicia contributed just over 9.7 million m3 in wood shorts in 2019 (almost half of the annual timber cuts in Spain), an annual rate of use increasable, under sustainability criteria, according to official statistics [31].

The Galicia Region has followed a path of dual productive specialization in forest and dairy production over the last half-century. It currently produces nearly half of the country's timber and 40% of its dairy. As a result of artificial plantations and spontaneous vegetation invasion [35], the area covered by trees and other woody vegetation rose dramatically, resulting in a major increase in the amount and continuity of biomass present on the terrain. As a result, the region is distinguished by a large percentage of forest area, accounting for about 60% of the territory's total area and 11% of Spain's total forest area [36].

Severe wildfires occur every few years due to sporadic, short but possibly strong periods of drought during the summer. In 2017, almost 62,000 ha were burned, the majority of which (approximately 42,000 ha) occurred in just a few days in early October [37]. From 1968 to 2012, there were 249,387 wildfires in the region [38], resulting in the burning of almost 8000 km2 (about a fourth of the total regional area) in the last 25 years (29.574 km2 ). Different writers have identified a number of structural factors of fire igniting activity [39]. Traditional rural lifestyles are vanishing, as are tensions over land management and ownership, conflicts at the wildlandurban boundary, and socioeconomic conditions.

Property fragmentation is widely seen in the region as a significant impediment to the sustainable and economic management of forests and rangelands. According to current estimates, the region has almost 1.7 million proprietors (out of a total population of about 2.7 million) and over 11 million plots with an average size of 0.25 hectares [40]. Private owners own the majority of the land—they own more than two-thirds of the forest area—but the average size of a private holding is 1.5–2 ha per person [36]. Private properties, on the other hand, include common lands, which are legally recognized as a non-divisible kind of collective (albeit private) property. Community membership is limited by law, and it is open to everyone who lives in the same region as the community. As a result, communities are fluid entities: those

who move in become owners, while those who leave lose their ownership rights. At 656,000 ha, common lands make up the final third (public property in the region is essentially non-existent), and are maintained by about 3000 local communities, with an average area of 200 ha per community [40].

Climatologically, Galicia Region has large differences between its coastal and inland areas. Average annual rainfall varies between 800 and 1000 mm in inland areas, and 1600 and 1900 in coastal areas. The annual mean temperature is 13°C, with remarkable differences between the coastal and continental temperatures; at the same elevation, in summer (winter), temperatures are on the order of 2°C higher (5°C lower) in the continental part. Thus, the lowest temperatures can be observed in the interior, where the highest mountains are located, with average minimum temperatures around 5°C. Summers are warm, particularly in the southeast of the area, with maximum temperatures exceeding 30°C [31, 41].

Galicia's territory is heterogeneous, having densely populated sections mixed in with more sparsely populated areas. Within them, there are some cities and headwaters of the region that act as focal points of activity [42]. Demographically and economically dynamic areas coexist with those characterized by a lack of vitality, but even within them, there are some cities and headwaters of the region that act as focal points of activity.

Rural depopulation is a serious issue in Spain, particularly in Galicia, where it is regarded as a demographic and territorial phenomenon. Indeed, since 2008, the population of the region has decreased by 9.2 percent. In terms of the foreign population, prior to the economic slump, the rise in immigrants helped to alleviate rural depopulation [42].

Other important factors contributing to rural depopulation include an aging population or low population density that prevents economic development. Age and gender disparities, on the other hand, may be to blame [43]. Rural masculinization happens at a young age as a result of largely female migration and a lack of equal productive and reproductive work, leading to a search for a higher educational level and career prospects in metropolitan regions [42]. Aging, geographical isolation, a lack of spatial integration with other surrounding places, bad connections and transportation difficulties, a lack of adequate social services, and lower levels of human capital and employment prospects are all disadvantages associated with low density. All of this unavoidably leads to a drop in the economy [42, 44].

Loss of human resources, lack of territorial growth, and incapacity to maintain commercial operations have not only economic, but also patrimonial and environmental consequences [45]. The loss of livestock and conventional agricultural uses, in terms of environmental effects, is a danger factor for natural environment protection. This is due to the fact that landscape changes are uncontrollable, and forest land management in rural regions is largely confined to individual plots [42].

In the Galician mountains, extensive livestock used to have an impact on the forest ecosystem, favoring mosaics and lowering fuel [46]. As a result, the fall in extensive animal husbandry in Spain (approximately 30% between 2004 and 2015) is seen as a contributing cause to forest fires [42].

The environmental implications of progressive abandonment of rural regions, such as soil loss and exposure to erosive phenomena over wide areas, can be deemed unfavorable in the medium term [43]. Furthermore, there is a lack of forest land management, which increases the risk of fire. Traditional burning activities and the use of fire in mountain management in Galicia have been linked to an increase in fire occurrence [42, 47].

*Analyzing the Evolution of Land-Use Changes Related to Vegetation, in the Galicia Region… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106015*
