Envigado's Heritage Trees Strategy

Este cedro está ubicado en la Casa Museo Fernando González la cual es un bien de interés cultural del ámbito nacional y del municipio de Envigado. El árbol fue denominado de carácter especial y candidato a ser declarado patrimonio del municipio por la importancia histórica de la siembra a manos del filósofo Fernando González (1895 - 1964)

The municipality of Envigado, aware of the relevance and importance of trees and in the fulfillment of its functions and competencies, promotes public space planning processes, not only from the traditional vision of development but from an ecosystemic perspective, where vegetation is an articulating axis of the urban landscape. For this purpose, it formulated in 2016 the Master Plan for Urban Public Green Zones of Envigado as the main policy instrument through which it initiates a management that will continue over time and in the territory of one of its main environmental assets: green public space and urban flora. This Plan is an essential part of the regional instruments of planning and urban environmental management. The formulation of the Master Plan for Urban Public Green Zones has a strategy for the definition and management of heritage trees. This is based on the characterization of the tree component and the updating of available public green areas based on a complete census of urban areas, generating a thorough diagnosis and a recommendation for the management of this component. Likewise, in this exercise, heritage trees and individuals at risk were identified as elements for the management of these trees. In addition, a baseline estimate of carbon sequestration and an outline of the valuation of the goods and services associated with it were made.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Legislative, regulatory and strategic instruments›Other, please specify

Challenges addressed

Social cohesion
Nature appropriation / stewardship
Reconnection to the biosphere / environmental education

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are an opportunity to take advantage of the country's vast natural heritage, in this particular case the municipality of Envigado, and at the same time address multiple social challenges in an equitable and sustainable manner. This work perspective also contributes a social factor, such as the complicity and participation of society, since through heritage, social and cultural identity is built and strengthened.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Allotments, community gardens or agricultural areas

Urban green space connected to grey infrastructure

Good practice characteristics:

Sustainable in the long-term

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

Secretariat of Environment and Agricultural Development

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

For the selection of the Heritage Trees of Envigado, a panel of forestry experts from the Department of Forestry Sciences of the National University of Medellin, a group of qualified professionals from the Environmental Secretary of Envigado and some members of the community were considered, with whom the process of selection and weighting of criteria, the structuring of variables and qualification of alternatives was carried out independently. In the formative workshops that were given to the community, individuals that were considered to have the dignity of heritage were nominated, and it was detailed why they believed this, the professionals and technicians of the secretariat also carried out the activity, and from these texts the most important variables were extracted, with which the matrix of comparisons was created, This matrix was used to create the matrix of comparisons, which was graded by the professionals of the Secretariat and the National University, in which numerical values were attributed to the judgments provided, in order to know how each element of the hierarchy contributes to the immediately higher level from which it is derived, saying how much more important one is in relation to another of the same level.

Involvement of non-governmental actors:

Researchers, university

Citizens or community groups / NGOs

Community in general Envigado municipality

Type of actor involvement:

Civil society consultation through e.g. workshops, surveys, etc.

Instrument implementation:

Targeted actors:

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

Financing

Details about instrument financing:

2,000 million/year (approximately 500,000 euros) allocated to the management of all public trees, which includes all technical, operational, management and other related actions that the municipality of Envigado executes for a population of more than 50,000 public urban trees and whose human and operational resources include the management of special trees that have some heritage significance.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

SAU Urban Tree System - It is an application shared between the municipality of Medellín and the Metropolitan Area of the Àburra Valley and the only information system in the region, which integrates all the actors involved in urban trees. It is the only information system in the region that integrates all the actors involved in urban forestry management.

Did an evaluation take place?:

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

Promotion of conservation, sustainable use and appropriation of tree resources through active and intercultural participation of the population. Development of environmental education activities on biological diversity and its contributions to ecosystems.

Success factors and lessons learned:

Promote the conservation and sustainable use of tree resources through active and intercultural participation of the population. To develop environmental education actions on biological diversity and its contributions to ecosystems. Allows citizens to link with nature as a subject of rights.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

Sanchez Ruiz, O. & Arroyave Hernandez, E. (eds) 2015. Manual de Silvicultura Urbana Municipio de Envigado y Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Medellín.

Interview(s):

Agustín Gutiérrez Henao - Director Ecosystems and Biodiversity Johana Tabares - Forestry Engineer SMADA

Further documents

Weblinks:

http://www.ambientometroenvigado.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Plan-Maestro-Zon…

Photos

Secretariat of the Environment - Envigado