2.3.5 Forest Chilean forests are highly important in economic and environmental terms. Forest resources account for 3.5% of GDP and more than 13% of exports in 2009. The forest cover represents 21.8% of the national land area, accounting for approximately 15.6 million hectares. This area includes two different contexts, namely native forests and plantations. There are 13.4 million hectares of native forests in Chile (86% of total forested land). Their importance is associated with the conservation of biodiversity (e.g., flora and fauna) and the provision of ecosystem services (e.g., freshwater provision) and resources (e.g., timber and other products). Ninety-five percent of native forests are concentrated to the south of the VIII Región del Bío-Bío, as shown in Figure 8. Figure 8: Regional distribution of native forests, in thousands of hectares (source: U. de Chile 2010)
IV 2 I & XV 7 XII 2,625
V 95
RM 93
VI 118 VII 370 VIII 786 IX 909
XI 4,816
XIV 850
X 2,736
Land-use change represents a main threat to native forest cover in Chile. More than 84,000 hectares of native species were substituted for plantations and more than 39,000 were transformed into farmland between 1995 and 2005. The regions mostly affected by land-use change are the VIII Región del Bío-Bío and the IX Región de la Araucanía. Considering new forest areas (approximately 29,000 hectares), the estimated overall native forest loss during the last 15 years in Chile is of 96,206 hectares. Forest fires also threaten native forests. An estimate of 8,200 hectares were lost between 2005 and 2009.
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The Environmental and Climate Change Sectors in Chile: Research Areas and Capabilities. State of the Art Report