In short
Act 108-2001 creates the Adopt a Hectare Programme, attached to the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, with the purpose of providing incentives to persons or entities with or without profit motive who take part in it. The Secretary designates a Coordinator responsible for the Programme’s operation, who prepares and implements its norms and rules including the work plan, manages appropriations and donations for acquiring the natural-value areas, coordinates with the Department’s units the acquisition of the lands, identifies the hectares to be adopted, provides the recognition certificates and other incentives, supervises the Programme’s development and establishes the criteria and identifies the location, characteristics and potential of the resources and their susceptibility to damage or depletion, notifying the Planning Board. The Coordinator shall provide participating entities and persons with a recognition certificate and a photograph of the hectares adopted, once the area’s acquisition process is completed; the certificate may be used by entities for their advertising campaigns. They may additionally install a sign with the donor’s name on a farm acquired with their donation, an incentive limited to donations exceeding an amount to be set by regulation. Participants shall be permitted to visit the adopted hectares, in coordination with the officials managing the natural areas. Donations need not be exclusively in cash and the Department shall set by regulation the goods that may be donated. Money collected is deposited in a Special Account in the Special Fund in the Department’s favour. The Department shall establish education campaigns and management agreements offering neighbouring communities participation in the enjoyment of the areas.
What is it?
It is a donation programme with a symbolic reward. The idea is simple: the Department of Natural Resources buys high-natural-value land to conserve it, and this Act creates the route for a person or a company to contribute money — or goods — to that purchase and receive something in return that is not money. What you receive is named in the Act: a recognition certificate and a photograph of the adopted hectare, the right to use that certificate in your advertising campaigns if you are an entity, the possibility of a sign with your name being installed on the farm bought with your donation, and a visit to the adopted hectares. It is worth saying up front what the Act does not carry: it sets no donation amount, no minimum for the sign, no form, no deadline and no list of available hectares. All of that was left to a regulation.
Who can do it?
Article 2 opens it to “the persons or entities with or without profit motive who take part” in the Programme. There is no further filter in the text: no residence, no minimum amount, no type of entity. The only threshold the Act mentions is for one of the incentives: the sign with the donor’s name “shall be limited to donations exceeding an amount to be set by regulation,” and that amount does not appear in the Act. Donations, moreover, need not be exclusively in cash: Article 5 provides the Department shall set by Regulation the goods that may be donated.
Requirements
- Being a person or entity, with or without profit motive, taking part in the Programme through a donation (Article 2).Verified against the official source
- For the sign with the donor’s name, that the donation exceed an amount the Department shall set by regulation (Article 5).Verified against the official source
Documents you need
Information pending verification.
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: What it is and who runs it
Article 1 creates the “Adopt a Hectare” Programme attached to the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, and Article 3 provides that the Secretary shall designate a Coordinator responsible for its operation, who may attach the Programme to a unit within the Department related to land acquisition. That Coordinator is who identifies the hectares to be adopted and who provides the recognition certificates and the other incentives.
Step 2: What exactly you receive
Article 5 lists them and they are worth reading plainly. First, a recognition certificate and a photograph of the hectares that have been adopted — and there is an important timing detail: they are provided “once the process of acquiring the high-natural-value area has been completed,” not on donating. Second, that certificate may be used by entities with or without profit motive for their advertising campaigns. Third, they may install a sign with the donor’s name on a farm acquired with the entity’s donation, an incentive limited to donations exceeding an amount to be set by regulation. Fourth, participants shall be permitted to visit the adopted hectares, in coordination with the officials managing the natural areas included in the Programme. And fifth, the Department may design activities fostering citizen and environmental organisation participation.
Step 3: It does not have to be money
Article 5 itself says so: “Donations shall not have to be used exclusively in cash and the Department shall set by Regulation the goods that may be donated.” The same article adds that a Regulation shall also be created to establish the form and manner in which the Department may accept onerous donations without it being considered under any circumstances that the Department will enter a bilateral contractual relationship with the donor in which the agency binds itself to render something in exchange for the donation, save as provided in this Act. That is, the Act expressly takes care that the donation does not become a contract.
Step 4: Where the money goes
Article 6 earmarks it: the money collected shall be deposited in a Special Account in the Special Fund in the Department’s favour, as provided in Act 150 of 4 August 1988, known as the Natural Heritage Programme Act of Puerto Rico. We did not read that Act and therefore do not describe how that Fund works or what other rules apply to it.
Step 5: If you live near an included area
Article 8 carries a provision that has nothing to do with donating and is worth knowing. The Department, together with the agencies concerned, shall delimit the uses, resource potential and characteristics of the natural-value area proposed for inclusion in the Programme. And it adds: “Management agreements shall further be established offering neighbouring communities participation in the enjoyment of the environmental service areas.” The Act does not describe how those agreements are negotiated or who represents the community.
Step 6: What this Act does not give you
It is worth saying clearly so nobody arrives expecting more. The Act creates no new tax benefit. The statement of motives mentions that donations to the Natural Heritage Programme are already deductible for tax purposes, but that comes from Act 150-1988, not from this Act, and since we did not read that one we do not describe its scope. This Act likewise sets no amount to donate, no threshold for the sign, no form, no term to receive the certificate beyond it being after the acquisition is completed, and no list or map of hectares available to adopt. Article 4(a) leaves all of that with the Coordinator, who prepares and implements the norms and rules that will govern the Programme, including its work plan.
Where to do it
The Programme is attached to the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, and the Secretary designates a Coordinator responsible for its operation, who may attach it to a Department unit related to land acquisition. The Act publishes no address, telephone, portal or form, and we do not guess government internet addresses.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
A detail of the name we prefer to flag rather than silently correct: the compilation titles the Act “Act of the ‘Adopte un Hectárea’ Programme” and Article 1 says “The ‘Adopte un Hectárea’ Programme is created,” while the purpose clause and Article 5 speak of “Adopte una Hectárea.” We report the name as the Act writes it in each place. What we did not read and therefore do not publish: the norms and rules Article 4(a) charges the Coordinator with preparing, including the work plan; the Article 5 Regulation setting the donatable goods and the sign threshold; the same article’s Regulation on onerous donations; and Act 150-1988 on the Natural Heritage Programme, to which Article 6 and the statement of motives refer. Without them we cannot say how much must be donated, how one donates, what goods are accepted, how long the certificate takes or what the minimum for the sign is. Five gaps in the text, said clearly. First, it publishes no minimum donation amount or sign threshold: it expressly delegates that to the regulation. Second, it creates no form or application procedure. Third, it sets no term for anything, save that the certificate and photo are delivered once the area’s acquisition is completed. Fourth, it publishes no list, map or inventory of hectares available to adopt: Article 4(c) leaves that identification with the Coordinator. Fifth, it creates no tax benefit of its own; the deduction the statement of motives mentions comes from Act 150-1988. Cost and time are unverified for that same reason. A note on the sign incentive’s reach: Article 5 drafts it referring to “the entity’s donation,” without clarifying whether a natural person donating above the threshold may also request it; we do not resolve that ambiguity on our own account.
Common mistakes
- Believing you adopt the hectare as property: what you receive is a recognition certificate, a photograph, possibly a sign and the right to visit.
- Expecting the certificate on donating: the Act delivers it once the process of acquiring the high-natural-value area is completed.
- Counting on the sign without knowing the threshold: the incentive is limited to donations exceeding an amount the Act does not publish and which is left to the regulation.
- Thinking this Act gives you a tax deduction: the deduction the statement of motives mentions comes from Act 150-1988, not from this one.
- Assuming you must donate money: the Act says donations shall not have to be exclusively in cash.
- Looking for a list of available hectares in the Act: the identification of the hectares to be adopted is made by the Coordinator.
- Believing the donation creates a contract with the agency: the Act orders onerous donations regulated precisely so it is not considered a bilateral contractual relationship.
- Ignoring Article 8 if you live next door: it contemplates management agreements offering neighbouring communities participation in the enjoyment of the areas.
Frequently asked questions
What do I receive if I donate?
A recognition certificate and a photograph of the adopted hectares, once the area’s acquisition is completed. Entities may use the certificate in advertising campaigns, a sign with the donor’s name may be installed if the donation exceeds the regulatory threshold, and visits to the adopted hectares are permitted.
How much do I have to donate?
The Act does not say. The only threshold it mentions is for the sign with the donor’s name, and it refers that to an amount to be set by a regulation we did not read.
Does the hectare become mine?
No. The programme is called adoption but what the Act grants are recognition incentives: certificate, photograph, sign and visit. The lands are acquired by the Department to conserve them.
Can I donate something other than money?
The Act allows it: it provides donations shall not have to be exclusively in cash and that the Department shall set by Regulation the goods that may be donated. We did not read that regulation.
Can I visit the hectare I helped buy?
Yes. Article 5 provides that participants shall be permitted to visit the adopted hectares, in coordination with the officials managing the natural areas included in the Programme.
Official sources
These are the government pages this guide is based on.
- Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales (DRNA)
DRNA
bvirtualogp.pr.gov
Last verified
August 30, 2026
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