ABSTRACT
The Bio Bio region concentrates a huge amount of the country's forestry surface, amounting to about 1,204,237 hectares of woodland in 1994. The Bio Bio region has a range of over 400 types of exportable products, but nevertheless the greatest amount of exports corresponds to the forestry sector and to the fishing industry. Water and air pollution, soil pollution and erosion, and the loss of biodiversity may be considered among the major environmental problems that affect living standards and economic production in the Bio Bio region. The new national environmental law was put into force in 1994, aiming to materialize an existing constitutional precept according to which every Chilean has the right to live in a pollution-free environment. The research done consisted of an environmental diagnosis based on the gathering of background information following very exact methods, thus obtaining sound conclusions.
