Promoting a New Affirmative Property Right for the Conservation of Nature
The conservation right
The conservation right is a new affirmative real right: the faculty to conserve the environmental patrimony of a property, or certain of its attributes or functions — new legal assets in their own right. Chile created it in 2016, by Law No. 20.930.
This website is developed by the Conservation Law Center of Chile to explain the conservation right, to make its sources available in English and to support its study and adoption in other jurisdictions.
At a glance
- Created by
- Law No. 20.930 (Chile, 2016)
- Nature
- An affirmative real right: the faculty to conserve
- Object
- The environmental patrimony of a property, or its attributes or functions
- Titleholders
- Any natural or legal person, public or private
- Duration
- Indefinite, unless otherwise agreed
In the words of the law
“The conservation right is a real right that consists in the faculty to conserve the environmental patrimony of a real estate or of certain attributes or functions thereof.”
Law No. 20.930, Article 2 (Chile, 2016)
Unlike a conservation easement, it is not a restriction on land. The owner keeps the land, and the titleholder holds the faculty to conserve. The attributes and functions of the environmental patrimony are deemed immovable property, so that a conservation entitlement over a single function can be valued, financed and transferred.
Conference in Coyhaique: 10 years of the conservation right (Spanish, with English subtitles).
Explore
The Conservation Right
Its history and its two innovations — the faculty to conserve and new legal assets — and how it differs from conservation easements.
Foundations
The normative, economic and socio-legal justifications of a conservation entitlement over ecosystem’s assets.
Library
Legislation, academic articles and bulletins, in English where available — from the 2003 article that first proposed the right to the 2023 reference analysis.
10 years of Law No. 20.930
Five bulletins and five talks of the Conservation Law Center, every Tuesday. Bulletin 1 is out: A Brief Legislative History of the Conservation Right.
Latest news
About us
This website, conservationright.org, is developed and promoted by the Conservation Law Center of Chile (Fundación Centro de Derecho de Conservación) to spread knowledge about, and educate on, a new model: an affirmative property right over ecosystem assets. One of the Center’s objectives is to cooperate with other jurisdictions to promote this model, consistent with current goals of building a self-sustaining natural capital economy.
© 2026 Conservation Law Center of Chile (Fundación Centro de Derecho de Conservación) · conservationright.org