Institutional and political setting
In Chile the Agricultural and Livestock Service (Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero, SAG, http://www.sag.gob.cl) has a mission to protect, maintain, conserve and increase the condition of the renewable natural resources, base of the agriculture production including the associated environment and biodiversity, promoting the sustainability of this sector. To reach this objective SAG designs applied strategies and environmental instruments to avoid or mitigate the adverse effects on the renewable natural resources, like water, air, soil, biodiversity and wildlife, generated by the activities of different productive sectors, and at the same time, support the environmental sustainability in the agriculture field and in the associated productive sectors. In particular, the SAG implements programs of recovery of degraded soils and contribute with subsidies to the farmers for the recovery of the eroded and degraded soils and for the implementation of conservationist practices of soil management. The results obtained in DESIRE would be of enormous importance to generate new polices and concrete instruments to help the farmers that allow to implement measures of improvement and conservation soil and water resources in their agricultural exploitations.
The National Forestry Corporation (Corporación Nacional Forestal, CONAF, http://www.conaf.cl) has among its missions the recovery and protection of natural resources of the country and in particular the forest resources. CONAF has an active participation on evaluations of environmental impacts of new projects related with forest resources and wild protection areas.
Other institution is the Natural Resources Information Centre (Centro de Información de Recursos Naturales, CIREN, http://www.ciren.cl) which integrate records on climate, water, fruit growing and forest resources, mining capacity and soil use, geographical, geomorphological and rural properties within a county. Its mission are a) maintain an updated system of multi-thematic and integral information on the patrimony, soil, climate and water resources, as well as on the cadastres of rural property of fruit growing activities and its associated infrastructure; b) strengthen the modern techniques knowledge on geographical data systems, remote sensors and associated technology to the handling and processing of large volumes of graphic information and also on techniques for monitoring the country's natural resources; c) transfer, through our services and products, tools for the pre-investment processes to the public and private sector.
On the other hand, at national and regional level exists the National Commission of Environment (CONAMA, http://www.conama.cl) that has for mission to promote and to develop political and instruments that foment the environmental sustainability of the development process, with the aim to improving the quality of the citizens' life, guaranteeing an environment free of contamination, the preservation of the nature and the conservation of the environmental patrimony.
