CHILE

Chile has the second largest area of temperate rainforest in the world and a third of the worlds remaining temperate rainforests are found in Chile. This includes the Valdivian Rainforest, which is populated by species unique to southern Chile and Argentina. Chile's forests are considered to be of great ecological and conservation value.

21.5% of Chile is forested, of which 26% is primary forest. Between 1990 and 2005, Chile lost nearly 10% of its forest and woodland habitat. A study published in 2006 showed that native forests were becoming smaller and more fragmented. The authors believe most of the forest loss was caused by the government-approved expansion of commercial plantations in which non-native pine and eucalyptus are grown. The forestry sector has been a key driving force in the national economy, with forest exports increasing from US440 million in 1970 to US$2.2 billion in 2000.

NGOs and others are also very concerned about the potential impact on Chiles forests of the Cascade Chile Project, the development of the worlds largest chip mill, which is based in southern Chile and exports ply board to the US market. It is estimated that 200,000 ha of forest will be logged to produce the wood for the mill. The government has been accused of ignoring laws on forest protection by allowing the construction to take place.

Chile has developed legislation to promote sustainable forest management but, to date, has lacked the tools and financial resources to regulate the forest sector, and address the short term management strategies in the timber industry.

The same lack of government resources allows illegal logging to flourish. WWF funded investigations into the illegal logging of the alerce conifer, the second longest-lived species in the world that can reach up to 112m in height, and one that is listed in Appendix I of CITES, prohibiting its export. Despite this protection, the study found that alerce forests were being exploited and the wood sold commercially, mostly due a lack of enforcement of Chile's species protection laws. It was also found that, when cases were brought to court, judges tended to apply only minor sanctions or dismiss cases. In 2005 Greenpeace accused Chile's National Forestry Service (CONAF) of 'complicity' with illegal logging of alerce trees. Allegations of corruption in CONAF have been voiced for more than a decade.

However, there have been a number of positive developments in Chile in recent years. For example, The Nature Conservancy have established a reserve in a key area of coastal rainforest and plantation, which will be restored to native forest, and the government approved a native forest law in late 2007 which created an initial fund of US$8 million a year for forest conservation, recovery and sustainable management projects. Recent data suggests that Chile is now reforesting, although it will be important to differentiate between native forest growth and plantation growth.

DOCUMENTS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
01/04/2002	Chile's Frontier Forests: Conserving a Global Treasure Chile has one-third of the world's few remaining large tracts of relatively undisturbed temperate ...	Global Forest Watch
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NEWS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
19/09/2012	LAC Forestry and Environmental Communicators Network formed A workshop of Latin American journalists and other communicators organized by the UN Food and Agriculture ...	IISD Biodiversity Policy & Practice
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06/12/2011	Pacific trade deal could help save species: U.S. Trade in illegally poached and harvested wildlife and wild plants could be curbed, possibly saving endangered ...	Reuters
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23/11/2010	Developing countries often outsource deforestation, study finds In many developing countries, forest restoration at home has led to deforestation abroad, according to ...	EurekAlert!
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09/06/2010	FSC national standards for forest certification in Chile approved The FSC Director General has delivered a positive approval decision for the "FSC Chile Standard ...	Lesprom News
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22/12/2009	Piñera operative convicted of trafficking Alerce wood Former mayor of Fresia receives suspended 541-day sentence. ...	The Santiago Times, Chile
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16/02/2008	Latin America: Deforestation still winning Mexico City - Never before have Latin America and the Caribbean fought so hard against deforestation, ...	IPS News Agency
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31/12/2007	Chile approves native forest law after 15 years Santiago - The Chilean parliament has unanimously approved a law to preserve the country's forests, ...	SciDev Net
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04/10/2005	Greenpeace denounces Chile's CONAF for neglecting Alerce trees Press Release: International environmental group Greenpeace denounced Chile's National Forestry ...	Greenpeace
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25/08/2005	CONAF reorganization angers Chile's environmentalists Chile - Fundacion Terram, a Santiago-based environmental NGO, denounced staff relocations made by the ...	Terram (Chile)
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