The Provincial Council of Bizkaia has reorganized the organic structure of the Department of Natural Environment and Agriculture

The Provincial Council of Bizkaia has approved Foral Decree 81/2026, which regulates the organic structure of the Department of Medio Natural y Agricultura (Natural Environment and Agriculture). The regulation was published in the Boletín Oficial de Bizkaia official gazette, issue number 179, on September 18, 2026, in section I, and has the official reference BOB-2026a179-(I-1061). The decree will enter into force on the day following its publication, September 19, and repeals Foral Decree 79/2022.

New structure implemented

The text was signed in Bilbao on September 17, 2026, and the signatories are Foral Deputy Arantzazu Atucha Lejarreta (Natural Environment and Agriculture) and the General Deputy Elixabete Etxanobe Landajuela. The starting point for the change is Foral Decree 169/2023, which changed the name of the department, and the subsequent regulatory developments and diversity of functions have justified the adjustment of the structure.

The regulation contains 57 articles, divided into two titles, and establishes four main bodies: the Dirección General de Medio Ambiente, the Dirección General de Agricultura, the Subdirección de Montes y Servicios Generales, and the Subdirección de Medio Ambiente. The latter is new, and along with it are the Servicio de Calidad Ambiental, Servicio de Patrimonio Natural, Servicio de Ingeniería e Infraestructuras Ambientales, and the Servicio Jurídico.

Legal service and forest planning

The former Servicio de Asesoría y Desarrollo Normativo has become the Servicio Jurídico, and is now organically integrated within the Subdirección de Medio Ambiente, while maintaining a transversal nature for the entire department. It is structured into two sections: the Sección de Información y Asesoría and the Sección de Régimen Jurídico y Contratación.

In the field of forest planning, the Servicio de Planificación y Ordenación Forestal, Cinegética y Piscícola has been created, containing the Sección de Planificación y Ordenación Forestal and the Sección de Caza y Pesca Continental. The new service is responsible, among other things, for promoting the development of the new Norma Foral de Montes, directing forest management, managing the Catálogo de montes de Utilidad Pública, and promoting the digitalization of forest certification and forest management.

Reorganization of forest management

The Subdirección General de Espacios Naturales y Servicios Generales has taken the name Subdirección de Montes y Servicios Generales, and has three services: the Servicio de Servicios Generales, the Servicio de Montes, and the aforementioned planning service. Forest management in protected natural areas, which until now was under the Servicio de Patrimonio Natural, has been transferred to that sub-directorate to achieve greater technical coherence.

At the same time, the Servicio de Fauna Cinegética y Pesca has been dissolved and amortized, and its functions have been distributed among the new units. There are also numerous name changes:

• Forestry Management Section zone I, zone II and zone III, replacing the first three forest conservation and management sections.
• Forestry Management and Protection Section, formerly the Section for Protection, Experimentation and Defense of Public Forestry Property.
• Environmental Taxation and Classified Activities Section, formerly the Sustainability and Climate Change Section.
• Environmental Engineering and Infrastructure Service, formerly the Environmental Management Service.
• Biodiversity and Climate Change Section and Nature Conservation and Protected Natural Areas Management Section.

Agriculture and attached organizations

The General Directorate of Agriculture is structured with three services: the Rural Development Service, the Agricultural Service and the Livestock Service. Among them, the management of the Common Agricultural Policy, the processing of EAFRD and EAGF funds, the technical advisory for the Bizkaiko Txakolina designation of origin and the fauna and livestock infrastructures in Gorliz are highlighted.

Two public companies are attached to the department: Basalan Akziozko Baltzua, S.A., linked to the management of the forest and natural environment, and Garbiker, S.A., linked to waste management. Furthermore, three collegiate bodies are under the authority of the provincial deputy: the Bizkaia Forestry Commission, the Bizkaia Hunting Council and the Bizkaia Inland Fishing Council.

The regulations state that they comply with the principles of Law 39/2015 and Provincial Decree 87/2021, incorporate a gender perspective (Legislative Decree 1/2023 and Provincial Decree 112/2024) and take into account Provincial Decree 63/2019 regarding the use of official languages. Three reports have been submitted: a legal report, an economic control report and a legality report.

Regarding the impact, the decree changes the management of forestry and agricultural policy: it leaves mountain planning and forest certification in the hands of a new technical unit, merges the forest management of protected natural areas with the mountain area, and establishes the department’s legal advisory in its own and transversal structure. All this happens alongside the preparation of the new Provincial Forestry Law, and will increase the pace of the normative forestry management projects and digitalization processes in the coming years.

Source: Official Gazette of Bizkaia, number 179, September 18, 2026, section I, page 1. (official reference: BOB-2026a179-(I-1061)).