Reform of the Spanish Forestry Law: forest management, fires and the Tagus-Segura transfer

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. Forests are now considered green infrastructure and their multifunctionality is recognized: they produce resources, protect soil, water and biodiversity, and society as a whole benefits.
2. Forest planning is simplified: small forests can join model management plans approved by the autonomous community and count as managed forests, without needing a costly individual plan.
3. A National Forestry Council is created as an advisory body, and the Sectoral Conference on Agriculture and Rural Development is kept to coordinate the State with the autonomous communities.
4. A new figure is created, the montes de socios (partner forests): private forests shared among people, some of them unknown. Known owners can form a management board to run the forest and prevent its abandonment, and investigate who owns the vacant shares.
5. After a fire, changing the forest use of the land is banned for 30 years, with very limited exceptions that must be approved by law and with compensatory measures restoring an equivalent forest area.
6. Fines are toughened: both the recovery time of the damage and its economic cost are now weighed. The penalty will be the higher of the set fine or twice the cost of the damage, and anyone marketing illegal timber also loses it (confiscation).
7. Forestry companies are defined: groups of owners who transfer forest use rights in exchange for a share of the profits. They get a 10% corporate income taxincome tax The personal income tax (IRPF in Spain): what people pay on what they earn from work, business or savings. deduction for conservation expenses and investments.
8. Clear rules are set for the Tagus-Segura water transfer: four levels based on water stored in the Entrepeñas and Buendía reservoirs, with an annual cap of 650 cubic hectometers and a floor of 400 cubic hectometers below which no transfer is allowed.

Who it affects

• Forest owners, especially owners of small or shared forests: They can use cheaper model management plans, form management boards or create forestry companies with tax benefits.
• Forestry companies and industries: They must register and meet obligations on timber legality; otherwise they face fines and confiscation.
• Irrigators and water supplies in the Tagus and Segura basins: They have fixed rules on when and how much water can be transferred.
• Hunters and anglers: A National Game Management Strategy and a Spanish register of hunting and fishing offenders are created.
• Public administrations and forest agents: Their coordination, inspection, policing and firefighting powers are reorganized.

Words worth knowing

Monte catalogado

Public forest listed in the Catalog of Public Utility Forests for protecting soil, water or biodiversity; it enjoys special protection.

Monte protector

Private forest meeting conditions similar to public utility forests, so it also receives special protection.

Dominio público forestal

Public forest land that cannot be sold or acquired by private parties through prescription.

Pro indiviso

Property shared by several people without dividing the specific parts belonging to each one.

Declaración responsable

A document in which someone declares before the administration that they comply with the law, allowing them to act without prior authorization.

income tax

The personal income tax (IRPF in Spain): what people pay on what they earn from work, business or savings.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries