2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWELVE - Conservation (§§ 1-16 — 8162) › Subtitle 6A - Natural Resources (§§ 5001 — 5116) › Chapter 259 - Great Northeast Ecological Corridor Nature Reserve Act (§§ 5101 — 5109) › § 5102 - Definitions

For purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meaning stated below:
(a) Conservation.— The care and protection provided to a sector or property designated as a natural, cultural, or ecological resource of great value, for the purpose of improving and maintaining its conditions and natural features; it allows for its limited and careful use; provided, that said use is subject to and for the purpose of maintaining its integrity or improving the natural features of the area.
(b) Ecolodge.— A type of accommodation ranging from 2 to 70 rooms in total, that provides service for a particular place or natural area, managed comprehensively and developed to avoid, reduce, and have little environmental impact. It is set in natural locations, it is financially sustainable, and helps protect adjacent sensitive areas; it benefits and involves the local communities; offers tourists interpretative, participatory, and interactive activities; facilitates spiritual communion with nature and culture; and is planned, designed, built, and operated in an environmentally and socially conscious manner.
(c) Ecotourism.— A type of tourism that is environmentally responsible and consists of traveling to or visiting relatively undisturbed natural areas for the purpose of enjoying, appreciating, and studying the natural attractions of said areas, as well as any cultural manifestations (present and past) that may be found there. This is done through a process that promotes conservation, has low environmental and cultural impact, and favors active participation in the generation of socioeconomic benefits for local communities in the area visited or its periphery. It includes the development of recreational activities related to nature tourism, as well as the location and development of ecolodges following the aforementioned principles.
(d) Preservation.— The care and protection provided to a sector that is designated as a unique or important natural, cultural, ecological, or environmental resource for the purpose of maintaining its natural condition, as well as its unique and special features, in order to study it and observe it in a restricted, limited, and controlled manner. It includes avoiding or protecting the area or natural resource in advance from any harm or danger so as to guarantee its perpetuity for the enjoyment of future generations.
(e) Nature Reserve.— An area of the territory that is administratively designated by the Planning Board or by a statutory provision as having important natural resources subject to serious conflicts in its present and future use, and that must be substantially preserved and conserved in their present condition or, in cases that so warrant, restored to their natural condition.
(f) Seven Seas Nature Reserve.— Land administered by the Puerto Rico National Parks Company and designated as a nature reserve by virtue of §§ 5006 et seq. of this title, known as the “Seven Seas Estate Nature Reserve”.
g) Restoration.— The act of reversing the degradation or alteration of an affected area by extracting, excavating, removing, and dredging elements of the earth’s crust to improve or stabilize the same and bring it closer to its original natural state with the intention of preserving its integrity or restoring the original natural resources associated thereto.
(h) Patrimonial Lands.— Land owned by the Government of Puerto Rico, which can dispose of the same as if they were private property. Such land shall be subject to the enabling laws of the agency, public corporation, authority, or governmental corporation or entity that administers it.
(i) Public lands.— Land property of the Government of Puerto Rico and its agencies, entities, or departments, and municipalities. This includes streets, sidewalks, gutters, parks, plazas, traffic islands, easements, intersections, school yards, parking lots, and other lands which are the property of Government, Municipal or State agencies.
(j) Submerged lands.— Any lands permanently or periodically covered by water up to but not above the line of mean high tide in beaches, bays, lagoons, swamps, and other bodies of water.
(k) Lands beneath navigable waters.— It includes land beneath navigable waters around the island of Puerto Rico and its adjacent islands, up to a distance of three (3) marine leagues seaward, which is equal to nine (9) nautical miles, and ten point thirty-five (10.35) land miles the coastline, which may be modified by accretion, erosion, or reliction.
(l) Transfer of development rights.— Mechanism whereby the development potential of a parcel is separated from its deed and, therefore, made available for transfer to another parcel. The owner of a sending area retains ownership of the parcel, but not the right to develop it.
(m) Nature Tourism.— A type of sustainable tourism in which the principal motivation of the visitor is to observe and appreciate nature. This form of tourism uses the natural resources of an area as its main attraction to draw in and entertain visitors. It includes recreational activities such as bird watching and other wild fauna; walking or hiking; camp sites; kayaking, canoeing or biking trips, but does not include activities such as the sport of golf or the construction of structures, or accommodations that require the modification or active manipulation of the natural environment, among others.
(n) Coastal Zone.— Strip of coastal land and waters adjacent to Puerto Rico and the islands under its jurisdiction. Its boundaries are set by the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources and approved by the Planning Board and the Governor of Puerto Rico. From the coastline, it extends one thousand (1,000) lineal meters inland, or any additional distance necessary to ensure key natural systems on the coast are included. It also includes the waters and the ocean floor or seabed that extends three (3) marine leagues (10.35 land miles) seaward.
History —June 25, 2012, No. 126, § 3.