The Provincial Council of Bizkaia has approved the new organic structure of the Natural Environment department

The Provincial Council of Bizkaia has approved Provincial Decree 81/2026, which regulates the organic structure of the Department of Natural Environment and Agriculture. The regulation creates the Sub-directorate of Environment, redesignates the Sub-directorate of Mountains and General Services, and establishes the Forestry, Hunting, and Fishing Planning Service. It was published in the Official Gazette of Bizkaia on September 18, 2026, in issue number 179, with the official reference BOB-2026a179-(I-1061), and will enter into force the day following its publication, on September 19.

Context: Replacing the 2022 regulation

The decree repeals Provincial Decree 79/2022, of May 31, 2022, which regulated what was then the Department of Sustainability and Natural Environment. The main precedent is Provincial Decree 169/2023, of July 6, 2023, which changed the department’s name to the current Natural Environment and Agriculture.

The reason for the change is the development of the regulatory framework. The growth of legislation in the fields of environment, forestry, and agriculture, and the diversity of functions assumed by the department, required a structural adjustment to improve efficiency and administrative coordination. The new regulation consists of 57 articles, divided into two titles.

Four main organs and a new sub-directorate

The department is now composed of four main organs:

• General Directorate of Environment.
• General Directorate of Agriculture.
• Sub-directorate of Mountains and General Services.
• Sub-directorate of Environment.

The Sub-directorate of Environment is the main innovation: it depends on the General Directorate of Environment, and all related services are transferred to it. Its duties include directing environmental assessment procedures, coordinating the climate change strategy, coordinating competencies of the Natura 2000 network, and promoting management plans for protected species.

Legal service and environmental reorganization

The Advisory and Normative Development Service, which until now was under the direct authority of the provincial deputy, is integrated into the new sub-directorate and takes the name Legal Service, maintaining its transversal nature for the entire department. Its duties are the legal advisory of the department, the issuance of reports, and the creation of the Annual Normative Plan.

The Environmental Quality Service has two sections: the Environmental Assessment Section and the Environmental Taxation and Classified Activities Section. The Natural Heritage Service, meanwhile, has the Biodiversity and Climate Change Section and the Nature Conservation and Protected Natural Areas Management Section.

Reorganization of forestry, hunting, and fishing

Forest management in protected natural areas is transferred from the Natural Heritage Service to the Sub-directorate of Mountains and General Services to achieve integrated planning. There are three services in that sub-directorate:

• General Services.
• Mountains Service.
• Forestry, Hunting, and Fishing Planning Service.

This new service will promote forest management planning, develop the new Provincial Forest Regulation, and protect, utilize, and organize continental hunting and fishing resources. It consists of two sections: the Forest Planning and Organization Section and the Continental Hunting and Fishing Section. At the same time, the Hunting Fauna and Fishing Service is abolished, and its functions are distributed among the new units.

Name changes

• In the Mountains Service: the conservation and forest organization sections for zones 1, 2, and 3 become the Forest Management Section for Zones I, II, and III; meanwhile, the Public Forest Protection, Experimentation and Defense Section becomes the Forest Management and Protection Section.
• In the Environmental Quality Service: the Sustainability and Climate Change Section becomes the Environmental Taxation and Classified Activities Section.
• The Environmental Management Service becomes the Environmental Engineering and Infrastructure Service; its sections are the Environmental Infrastructure and Equipment Section and the Environmental Engineering Section.
• In the Natural Heritage Service: the Biodiversity and Landscape Section becomes the Biodiversity and Climate Change Section, and the Protected Natural Areas Management Section becomes the Nature Conservation and Protected Natural Areas Management Section.

Attached entities and collegiate bodies

The provincial commercial companies attached to the Department are Basalan Akziozko Baltzua, S.A. (forest and nature management) and Garbiker, S.A. (waste management). The collegiate bodies attached to the provincial deputy are:

• The Forestry Board of Bizkaia.
• The Hunting Council of Bizkaia.
• The Continental Fishing Council of Bizkaia.

The decree was signed by provincial deputy Arantzazu Atucha Lejarreta and general deputy Elixabete Etxanobe Landajuela in Bilbao, on September 17, 2026. On the same day, the Provincial Council of Bizkaia approved the agreement to adjust the list of positions (BOB-2026a179-(I-1062)), creating leadership roles in the new sub-directorates and services and amortizing the endowments of the abolished units.

Impact

The new structure gathers forest policy and environmental policy under a single axis, leaving technical decisions in the hands of a sub-directorate. This is a significant change for the forestry, hunting, and fishing sectors of Bizkaia: from now on, they will have a single service as an interlocutor in the areas of planning, subsidies, and regulatory development.

Source: Official Gazette of Bizkaia, number 179, September 18, 2026, Part I, pp. 1-31 (official reference: BOB-2026a179-(I-1061)).