The city of Barcelona decided to solve the problem of drought and fires with an old but apparently still successful method. The authorities collected almost 300 sheep and goats from the local farms, which have one task - to graze as much grass as possible.The Guardian".

The idea is simple, the areas that are susceptible to forest fires will be taken care of by these animals, who will graze and trample the surface which can further spread the fires.

In the past this was one of the ways people dealt with forest fires. "We are not inventing anything new here," said Guillem Canaleta of the Pau Costa Foundation, a Catalan nonprofit that has been implementing the strategy since 2016 in the province of Girona, near Barcelona. "What we're doing is bringing back something that already existed but disappeared."

The city of Barcelona in April used this pilot project in Collserola Park, an 8.000-hectare green area set above the city that sees an average of 50 fires a year, said Eloi Badia, Barcelona's city councilor for climate emergencies and environmental transition.

Usually, these fires are quickly extinguished. "There is a risk here that one day there could be a big fire that would have a big impact," he said. "It's a very large and urban park, surrounded by densely packed municipalities."

Other countries around the world have dealt with fires in this way. For example, California, which fought the terrible fires last year in which more than 850 thousand hectares were burned, several companies found goats grazing the green areas. The same strategy was used by Portugal, which used horses to fight fires in 2017.

In Spain, this way of dealing with fires started almost two decades ago, when the Andalucia region was hit by terrible fires.

Research suggests that grazing can be effective when combined with other forest fire prevention methods, such as mechanical clearing and burning control, says Julia Ruet-Leduc, a researcher at the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research at the University of Leipzig. .

"It's not a complete solution," she added. "But it's part of the solution that can help make surfaces more fire-resistant."