On Friday, May 23, 2025, Law No. 21,744 was published in the Official Gazette, creating the National Forestry Service and amending the General Law on Urban Planning and Construction (the “Law”). As its name indicates, this Law establishes the new National Forestry Service (hereinafter, “Sernafor”), regulating, among other matters, its nature, purpose, and functions:

• 1. Nature: Sernafor is a decentralized public agency, with its own legal personality and assets, under the supervision of the President of the Republic through the Ministry of Agriculture. For all legal purposes, Sernafor shall be the legal successor of the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF), and all references to CONAF shall be understood to refer to Sernafor.

 

• 2. Purpose: The protection, promotion, conservation, preservation, recovery, restoration, management, and regulation of the sustainable use of forests and other vegetative formations in the country, as well as the associated natural components. It also includes the development of new forests and other vegetative formations on land primarily suitable for forestry use. In addition, Sernafor must ensure protection against forest fires.

 

• 3. Functions: To fulfill its purpose, Sernafor will have, among others, the following functions:

 

1. Coordination and execution of policies, plans, programs, projects, and actions aimed at the conservation, development, protection, creation, and restoration of forests, as well as response to forest fires.

 

1. • Development and maintenance of registries and updated information on forests, forest soils, and degraded areas, in coordination with public and private entities.

 

• • Elaboración y mantención de un catálogo actualizado de las especies arbóreas y arbustivas, nativas o introducidas, que mejor se adapten a las condiciones climáticas, hídricas y edafológicas de las diferentes zonas geográficas del país para ser consideradas como arbolado urbano.

 

1. • Oversight, within its competence, of compliance with regulations governing forestry activities.

 

• • Exercise of authority as an administrative body or technical counterpart in international conventions signed or to be signed by the State of Chile in matters under Sernafor's purview.

 

• • Design and implementation of strategies and actions aimed at promoting sustainability in the forestry sector.

 

• • Issuance of prior reports for the declaration of degraded areas, and for the preparation of management plans for the conservation of threatened ecosystems and ecological restoration.

 

• • Collaboration, as a competent technical agency, with regional governments and municipalities in tree supply and planting, technical assistance, and promotion of urban greenery.

 

Additionally, the Law amends DFL No. 458, which approves the General Law on Urban Planning and Construction (hereinafter, the “LGUC”), by introducing new risk and restriction criteria, requiring Regulatory or Sectional Plans to:

 

• Identify lands subject to risks and establish specific regulations for them. Furthermore, these plans must indicate which of those lands are non-buildable.

 

• Include or establish, where applicable, restricted areas, zones, strips, or radii related to dangerous infrastructure, facilities, or activities.

 

These amendments aim to ensure that territorial planning instruments enable more effective land management in the face of forest fire threats, protecting vulnerable urban and rural areas.

 

For additional information on this matter, please contact Julio Trucco Vera (jtrucco@jdf.cl).