"We are living a historic moment for the forestry sector, transitioning from Conaf, as a private law corporation since 1972, to the new National Forest Service, Sernafor, 100% public," stated Conaf's Executive Director, Aída Baldini, during the institution's 2025-2026 Public Account in the city of Concepción, Biobío Region.
On the occasion, she also addressed the main milestones of 2025, the challenges for this year, and the forestry sector's legislative agenda for the 2026-2030 period, which also includes the Forest Promotion bills, the Fire Law, the update of Law 20.283 on Native Forest, and a Compensation Banks Law.
"Caring for forests is caring for people," Baldini stated during her address, an instance in which she reaffirmed the State's commitment to transparency, probity, citizen participation, and accountability.
"The greatest milestone of 2025 is not a figure; it is Law 21.744, which creates the National Forest Service, Sernafor, published in the Official Gazette on May 23, 2025. This service, which we expect to be operational by May 2027, will have greater powers to manage legislative or budgetary changes in order to develop the forestry sector. Sernafor will be able to have inspectors with the status of ministers of faith (their records will enjoy a presumption of veracity), we will be able to generate more actions that protect people's lives and their property from fire, promote sustainable forest development through the forest, benefiting rural communities and forest owners. The creation of Sernafor is not just a name change. It is a change in the nature of the institution, in its attributions, and in its capacity to act," she emphasized.
The authority repeated throughout her account: "More State where the forest is, and more forest where people live." Another unprecedented dimension for the institution that she highlighted was urban tree cover. Nine out of ten people in Chile live in cities, and for the first time, the National Forest Service will take charge of the street tree, the one that provides shade and improves the quality of life in neighborhoods.
Likewise, the territorial perspective already has concrete expression in the communes through the initiative "My town, my tree," which delivers, as recognition to each place whose name comes from a native tree, the specimen that inspires them, along with a plaque, an agreement, and a local story. "It is a simple action, but deeply significant: it unites nature, local identity, and community memory," Baldini recounted.
"Also – added Conaf's director – we are working on the transfer of Conaf's protected areas to the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service, SBAP, and this transfer not only considers physical resources or the same territories, but also all the knowledge, experience, and training of the team of park rangers and professionals who have been trained at Conaf over the last 50 years, for the protection and conservation of the country's flora and fauna."
For his part, the Government Spokesperson (seremi) of the Biobío Region, Daniel Pacheco, highlighted that "for us, as the government of President José Antonio Kast, protecting our forests, preventing forest fires, and recovering damaged ecosystems are not secondary tasks, but part of the security of communities, the reconstruction of our territory, and sustainable development in our Biobío Region. For that reason, I also want to highlight the work of Conaf, which carries out a fundamental task for this mission. Also, to highlight the public account and, furthermore, the challenges they face in 2026 and 2027, since the work Conaf does is invaluable, because they truly protect not only the ecosystem but also the communities."
Key points of the Conaf Participatory Public Account 2025-2026:
- Legislative agenda
Conaf is working on four legal initiatives related to forest fires, forestation promotion, updating the Native Forest Law, and compensation banks. These projects must be understood as a single architecture and not as isolated projects. The fire project, "the main beam" of the set, is currently in the Mixed Commission.
- Conaf Projection 2026-2030
In the inspection area, with the creation of Sernafor, inspectors will be ministers of faith, having greater powers to protect native forest. This work will be strengthened with a territorial strategy that will include more than 550 activities in 15 regions of the country and different inter-institutional operations.
Regarding the prevention and combat of forest fires, the prevention goal is to reach a greater number of communities trained in prevention and to increase the number of early detection cameras throughout the country to arrive faster at a fire outbreak.
Regarding forest promotion, the objective is to have new promotion instruments operating, which strengthen the productive chain, carbon credit payments, have extension agents who support owners between the regions of Valparaíso and Aysén, and the integration of the Corporation's 37 nurseries.
- SBAP
Another milestone highlighted by Baldini relates to the transfer of protected wilderness areas, currently administered by Conaf, to the new Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service (SBAP), scheduled for March 2027 and being carried out in an "orderly manner, safeguarding institutional continuity and the transfer of professional experience from the park ranger team," affirmed the executive director.
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