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Governor Rodrigo Díaz at Expocorma 2024: “Job Losses in the Forestry Sector Are Twice as Severe as the Closure of Huachipato”

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During the event, the authority called for strengthening public-private agreements and promotion policies to revitalize the industry, while also maintaining actions to prevent wildfires.

At the inauguration of Expocorma 2024, the Governor of Biobío, Rodrigo Díaz, highlighted the role of the forestry sector as a pillar of the regional economy and urged for better conditions to revitalize the industry, which provides thousands of jobs in the area.

During his speech, he paid tribute to Juan José Ugarte’s leadership in his final term as president of Corma after seven years in office, emphasizing his contributions to the sector and the industry’s development in recent years.

“Chile’s forestry industry begins in the Maule region and extends to Los Ríos, but its heart is here, in Biobío. A decade ago, this sector generated 300,000 jobs; today, it’s 250,000. We’ve lost 50,000 jobs, and for a region like ours, this affects us deeply,” he stated.

He explained that this decline in employment has multiple causes, including the reduction in planted areas, which dropped from two and a half million hectares to just two million over the last decade. “What has happened? Land invasions and illegal occupations supported by various political sectors, devastating wildfires, and the disappearance of support policies for small landowners,” he detailed.

The governor also emphasized how the lack of incentives has discouraged small producers from investing in plantations. “A plantation takes 12 or 15 years to grow. If small landowners fear their timber will be stolen or burned, and they don’t have access to insurance, they simply won’t plant. This is very bad news for our region,” he asserted. Díaz compared the job losses in the forestry sector to the impact of Huachipato’s closure, stating that the magnitude of the crisis is “more than twice as severe.”

Díaz stressed that “the forestry sector remains the backbone of our region’s economy. Today, 20,000 people work in this industry in Biobío, and 250,000 nationwide. This sector continues to be the one that supports the most households in our region.”

Additionally, he called on authorities and the private sector to improve forest protection and advance in identifying and punishing those responsible for wildfires. “Today, in Chile, only 1% of those who burn forests are caught. In the OECD, 30% are caught and convicted. This is a challenge for CONAF, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the Courts of Justice. Protecting our economy means protecting our way of life,” he emphasized.

Finally, he highlighted the sector’s importance for regional exports, noting that 70% of exports from Talcahuano, Coronel, San Vicente, and Lirquén are forestry-based. “We depend on this, on the industrial culture that defines us,” he said.