Título IV. De los bosques y su proteccion

The cutting of trees of those protected and endangered species contained in established national lists and those to be established jointly by INAB and CONAP, and those that pursuant to the International agreements ratified by Guatemala in that matter, as well as trees constituting superior genotypes identified by the Institute, is prohibited. INAB shall provide protection to these species and shall stimulate their conservation and reproduction.

Trees from planted forests registered with INAB are excepted from this prohibition.

The protection, conservation and restoration of mangrove forests in the country are declared of national interest. The harvesting of trees from these ecosystems shall be subject to special regulation, which shall be prepared by INAB within a time limit of no more than one year following approval of this law.

The change of land use in these ecosystems is prohibited. The restoration of the mangrove shall have the support of a special protection law.

All transportation services are obligated to report any forest fire they detect to the immediate authority. Air transportation services shall report it to the control towers, which shall immediately inform INAB. The telegraph or public or private radiocommunication services shall have the obligation to provide, free of charge, the means of communication to report the incident.

Civil and military authorities are obligated to provide the necessary assistance, as well as the means at their disposal, to prevent and combat forest fires. Every person who has knowledge of a forest fire is obligated to give notice to the nearest police authority, who in turn shall communicate it to INAB.

All owners, lessees or occupants, under any title, of rural properties are obligated to grant access, transit or permanence within their properties to personnel working in combating forest fires, collaborating with all means at their disposal for the suppression of the disaster.

The use of controlled fires in forested areas shall be permitted only if it is included in the Management Plan approved by INAB. Any other burning practice in forests is totally prohibited.

On lands adjacent to forests, whoever conducts burnings shall take preventive measures to avoid a forest fire, and shall be liable in case of causing a fire in adjacent forests.

Violators shall be sanctioned as established in Article 89 of this Law.

Owners, lessees and occupants, under any title, of forest areas, as well as civil authorities, are obligated to inform INAB of any forest pest or disease that appears in their jurisdiction.

It is incumbent upon INAB to take measures to provide assistance to the owner and, by mutual agreement with the latter, to adopt measures to protect the forest mass affected by forest pests or diseases. Programs aimed at controlling and eradicating pests and/or diseases in forest areas shall be executed as a matter of urgency.

If the owners, lessees and occupants, under any title, of forest areas do not cooperate with INAB and do not provide assurances that they will adopt, on their own account, sanitary measures to combat the pest, INAB shall prepare a sanitary action plan, whose execution shall be mandatory on the part of the owner, lessee and occupant, within the time limit of thirty (30) days of being notified.

If it is verified that the owner of forest areas is not executing the sanitary action plan, INAB shall take the necessary measures, preparing and executing the pertinent actions until the pests are eliminated and the forest is sanitized. The cost of such actions shall be charged to the Private Forestry Fund, exclusively when it is verified, in accordance with the regulation of this law, that the possessor or owner of the real property lacks sufficient funds to implement them. Otherwise, it shall be borne by the owner, lessee, concessionaire or occupant, for which purpose the accounting of INAB shall be sufficient executory title to enforce collection.

Areas of forest vocation with forest, in which such forest is destroyed or eliminated without the corresponding license, may only be destined for forest use. The owner or possessor under any title, in addition to having the sanctions stipulated by this law imposed upon him, shall repopulate the land under any of the forest repopulation systems stipulated in this law, within a period of no more than two years, following the procedures stipulated in Articles 55 and 67 of this law.

The National Institute of Agrarian Transformation, INTA, before adjudicating lands for agricultural use, shall have the opinion of INAB in which it is stated that the land to be adjudicated is not of forest vocation.

The public official who, under any system, adjudicates State lands for use or lease for any purpose other than forest use, without having complied with the requirement indicated in the previous paragraph, shall be criminally liable for having breached their duties.

National reserve lands with forest vocation administered by the Office in Charge of the Control of Areas of National Reserve, OCREN, may only be destined for the establishment of protected areas of the Guatemalan System of Protected Areas, and for the planting and management of forests.

For any area covered with forest exceeding one hectare in extent, whose coverage is proposed to be changed to other non-forest coverage, the interested party shall submit to INAB for approval a study signed by a technician or professional duly registered with INAB, establishing that the land with forest is not of forest vocation.

The change of coverage on lands of forest vocation may be authorized by means of an application accompanied by an Agricultural Management Plan establishing that the land with forest coverage is suitable for sustained economic agricultural production.

Forest products of any nature resulting from the operation of the authorized change of land use may be used or marketed by the user.

At his election, he shall pay to the Private Forestry Fund or reforest an area equal to the transformed area, in accordance with the provisions of the regulation.

The removal of forest is prohibited in the upper parts of hydrographic basins covered with forest, especially those located in water recharge zones supplying water sources, which shall enjoy special protection. Consequently, these areas shall only be subject to sustainable forest management.

In the case of deforested areas in important water recharge zones, on state, municipal or private lands, special regeneration and rehabilitation programs shall be established.