Summer 2026 has brought one of Spain’s most severe wildfire seasons. The fires are clearly multi‑factor: they reflect increased drought, complex governance issues mixed with atomised land ownership, compounded by an emptying territory and the lack of profitability of forest activities. Spanish experts insist that forests must be valued differently: not only for the wood they produce, but for their capacity to protect watersheds and reduce erosion, to capture carbon and buffer extreme weather, and to safeguard biodiversity. In other words, for their ecosystem services. Prevention is cheaper than restoration. For the Netherlands this offers a warning about climate‑driven risks and an opportunity to build joint resilience, not only in fighting fires together, but to rethink ecosystem services under the CAP. …For the Netherlands, and for [the forestry ministry], Spain’s situation is a warning is that climate driven risks in forest and rural landscapes can escalate quickly when prevention and management lag behind.