Main Ecological Structure in Bogota - Colombia

The Principal Ecological Structure (PES) is a territorial planning and management instrument that recognizes that there are social processes (economic, recreation, well-being associated with the provision and regulation of ecosystem services, SSEE) that depend on natural processes. Therefore, the EPP seeks to guarantee the integrity of biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services to meet the basic needs of the population. To this end, protected areas, urban parks, ecological corridors and other areas of special ecosystemic importance and areas for sustainable use and recovery or restoration are identified. In this sense, a management model is established in which each unit of the territory is assigned a function in relation to the following categories: - Conservation areas: these are areas that are currently important for the provision of ecosystem services such as water provision, climate and risk regulation, biodiversity conservation, among others. These areas have minimal intervention levels. - Restoration areas: Refers to priority areas for the provision of ecosystem services, but which currently show medium or high levels of degradation and therefore require intervention processes to restore their capacity to provide ecosystem services. These areas can be contaminated water bodies, to give an example. - Sustainable use areas: These are areas that, due to their characteristics, can be used directly by people, whether for agricultural and livestock production, industry, urban settlements or service infrastructure. In these areas processes can be developed to promote sustainable use. It is important to highlight that the EPP can be implemented in different cities of the national territory. The implementation of this instrument allows cities to develop in a sustainable manner, taking into account the protection and restoration of ecological areas and processes on which social processes depend. In Bogotá, the EEP is composed of the Capital District's System of Protected Areas, urban parks, ecological corridors, and the Bogotá River Special Management Area.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Legislative, regulatory and strategic instruments›Urban planning mechanisms

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Water management (e.g. reuse)
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Watershed restoration/water quality
Air quality
Nature appropriation / stewardship
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

The EEP identifies and includes areas where SBNs have been carried out and integrates them into urban planning. It also identifies areas where these activities could be developed either within restoration areas or in areas related to sustainable use, or protection areas. The inclusion of these areas strengthens the opportunities for sustainable development linked to conservation, prioritizing them in the agendas of administrations and decision makers.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Allotments, community gardens or agricultural areas

Blue areas

Green areas for water management

Derelict areas

External building greens

Urban green space connected to grey infrastructure

Good practice characteristics:

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Inclusivity

Multifunctional NBS support

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

City Hall of Bogota

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

Towards the end of the 20th century, green spaces in cities became relevant to the point that in the 2000 Land Use Plan (POT) this concept was incorporated with the objective of recovering connectivity between protected areas and was defined as the "Network of spaces and corridors that support and connect biodiversity and ecological processes in the territory in their different forms, and intensities of human occupation, and provide environmental services for sustainable development" (MAVDT, 2007). In 2007, the EEP was established as an environmental determinant of the territory at the national level through Decree 3600 of 2007, issued by the Ministry of Environment, Housing and Territorial Development.

Involvement of non-governmental actors:

Researchers, university

Citizens or community groups / NGOs

Type of actor involvement:

Co-planning or co-design of instrument (e.g. boards, advisory role)

Expert task force consultation

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

The design of the EEP provided social organizations with an environmental emphasis with a technical and political instrument for monitoring and accompanying the implementation of the EPP. In this sense, these organizations were guarantors of its implementation and inclusion in other projects and policies of the city. Likewise, for the social organizations, the instrument became a tool for environmental education in the city.

Type of non-governmental actors involved:

Citizen oversight (e.g. boards, advisory role)

Co-design of NBS, implemented by government

Implementation of NBS (e.g. with government funds)

Unknown

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Citizens or community groups (CBOs), NGOs, NGOs, etc.

Financing

Budget:

Unknown

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

The District Secretariat of the Environment of Bogota has developed two programs associated with the monitoring of the Main Ecological Structure. The first program is associated with monitoring the state of biodiversity present in the District Wetland Ecological Parks and the District Mountain Ecological Parks. The second program corresponds to the monitoring of the ecological restoration areas intervened by the District Secretariat of the Environment.

Did an evaluation take place?:

Yes

See monitoring.

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

The technical design of the EEP was made part of the city's Environmental Management Plan (which is still in force). Subsequently, the EEP was included as an environmental determinant for the city, which meant that the different works, projects, and activities with a high impact on the city took it into account. In addition, the Bogotá EEP was articulated with the EEP of the region, so that the scope and results of its implementation were projected and studied on a regional scale. This instrument has served as a justification for the creation or increase of protected areas and has promoted the appropriation of nature by citizens. A concrete case of the previous example is the complementation of the protected area for the restoration of the high Andean forest in the Bosque las Mercedes (urban protected area) as part of a citizen initiative as an alternative to the construction of a road in this area.

Success factors and lessons learned:

1. Citizen and NGO participation, both in the design and implementation of the EEP, has allowed the instrument to be appropriated by social and environmental organizations in the city, who, in turn, have generated advocacy and environmental education mechanisms to strengthen and ensure the effective implementation of the instrument. 2. The inclusion of the technical study in local and regional policies has strengthened decision-making on land management that includes the EEP.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

- 619 of 2000. District Register 2197 of July 28, 2000, 2000(July 28), 1-359. http://www.alcaldiabogota.gov.co/sisjur/m/m_norma.jsp?i=3769%0Ahttps://www.alcaldiabogota.gov.co/sisjur/adminverblobawa?tabla=T_NORMA_ARCHIVO&p_NORMFIL_ID=331&f_NORMFIL_FILE=X&inputfileext=NORMFIL_FILENAME%0Ahttps://www.alcaldiabogota.gov.co/sisjur/normas. - Andrade, G. I., Remolina, F., Wiesner, D., & Montenegro, F. (2014). The Main Ecological Structure in the local. Proposal for application in the urban renewal of Fenicia, Las Aguas, Bogotá. Revista Nodo, 16(8), 42-54. csifesvr.uan.edu.co/index.php/nodo/article/viewFile/348/253. - IDEAM. (2012). Principal Ecological Structure of Colombia Methodological process. 48. - Márquez, C. G., & Valenzuela, E. (2008). Ecological Structure and Environmental Land Use Planning. In Gestión y Ambiente (Vol. 11, Issue 2, p. 11). -Van der Hammer, T., & Andrade, G. (2003). Main Ecological Structure of Colombia: first approximation. Ideam, 74. http://documentacion.ideam.gov.co/openbiblio/bvirtual/015647/Estructuraecologicaprincipal.pdf

Further documents

Documents:

decreto 619 de 2000.pdf

dts_libroi_componente_general_0.pdf

Weblinks:

https://oab.ambientebogota.gov.co/?post_type=dlm_download&p=3222

Photos

@J.Bernal.IAvH