Malaga takes drastic action to tackle pine tree disease

The city council has increased its budget to almost three million euros to remove weak or dead trees and introduce other species thanks to an agreement with the provincial authority, the Diputación de Málaga

Chus Heredia

Malaga

Tuesday, 1 April 2025, 09:44

Malaga city hall has approved a budget amendment to reach the 2.8 million euros needed for an agreement with the provincial authority, the Diputación de Málaga, to treat the city's trees for disease.

A range of factors from drought, poor quality soils, pests and plants being too close together is affecting Malaga city's trees. Last year almost a thousand specimens were affected, most of which were pine trees.

Until now, the trees have been monitored through the University of Cordoba and companies awarded the contract for the forest area service.

Factors

City hall staff argue that the problem affects the whole of Spain and not just Malaga: "This situation is a consequence of the current weather conditions, although in recent months the decay of specimens has worsened due to the presence of wood-boring insects that accelerate the death of the weakest trees", the sustainability department explains.

Some of the key actions are pruning, removing dead trees and planting more resilient species, as well as focusing on autochthonous and shrubby species. "The aim is to eliminate trees that due to their state of health (rotting, dryness and wood-boring insects) may pose a risk to the public (falling) or to the rest of the vegetation (propagation) and to promote resilient forestry practices to improve the ecosystem and the biodiversity of the forest areas," they added.

Removal of specimens

A study has been carried out by the department of forestry engineering of the school of agricultural and forestry engineering at the University of Cordoba. "The dead trees will be cut down and removed in order to control the presence of insects and prevent them from spreading. Subsequently, tree species more adapted to the Mediterranean climate will be planted," the study explains.

The study was carried out on five sample plots in the Gibralfaro, Monte Victoria, El Morlaco and Monte San Antón parks and concludes that the factors triggering the decline of the pine forests are mainly abiotic in nature (mainly irregular and reduced rainfall, increased temperatures and continuous periods of warm temperatures) and ecological competition increased by the scarcity of water resources. However, wood boring insects (mainly orthotomicus erosus and crypturgus numidicus) take advantage of the reduced defences of the affected pines to develop inside them, accelerating their death.

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