Greening Bogotá

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Greening Bogotá

Status

ongoing

City

Bogotá

Main actors

City Government, Private Sector, Community / Citizen Group

Project area

Whole City/Administrative Region

Duration

Ongoing since 2020

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, together with the climate crisis, have had well-documented effects on people's physical and mental health in the City of Bogotá and have resulted in the food insecurity of many vulnerable communities. In the face of these global crises, urban agriculture has been instrumental in contributing to the food security of the city and has played a pivotal role both in strengthening community cohesion and in the greening and recovery of public spaces.

Various communities, public bodies, and private organisations have taken up the mantle to initiate collective actions to benefit the urban population. These actions include the establishment of urban vegetable gardens across the city, which provide more than just a source of wholesome, fresh produce. They also serve as a repository for knowledge, while fostering and fortifying community bonds. Furthermore, they offer a chance to reacquaint citizens with traditional and rural knowledge, to adopt nature-positive practices, and to safeguard and encourage the cultivation of indigenous nutritional and medicinal plants and seeds.

The Botanical Garden has contributed to these urban agriculture initiatives by providing scientific and technical support to gardens across the city and by cultivating more than 120 species with nutritional value, granting citizens greater access to food and contributing to the city's public food and nutrition security policy. Since 2020, an impressive number of technical assistance and training sessions have been carried out to support and strengthen a growing number of vegetable gardens.

Originally published by AIPH World Green City Awards: Link to case study.

For further information about the case study, click here.

Sustainable Development Goals

AIPH World Green City Awards

This project was awarded the 'AIPH World Green City Awards' in 2022 in the following category: Living Green for Biodiversity.

Learn more

City

Bogotá, Colombia

Size and population development

The city of Bogotá has a total population of 8,080,734, while its metropolitan area has a population of over 10,700,000. (world population review 2018)

Population composition

The 2005 census put the population density for the city at approximately 4,310 people per square kilometer. The rural area of the capital district only has about 15,810 inhabitants. The majority of the population is European or of European-mixed descent. The people of mixed descent are those of Mestizo origin. There is a small minority of Afro-Colombian and Indigenous people as well. The city has recorded significant growth for a number of years and is still growing at a rate of 2.65%, this is largely due to internal migration. Historically, Bogota’s main religion was Roman Catholic and the city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese. In the most recent census, a large portion of the population declared they are non-practicing. (world population review 2018)

Main functions

Bogotá lies in central Colombia and is 2,640 metres about sea level in the Northern Andes Mountains. It is the capital and largest city of Colombia and the educational, cultural, commercial, administrative, financial, and political center. Bogotá is a territorial entity and has the same administrative status as the Departments of Colombia.

Main industries / business

Bogotá is the headquarters for all major commercial banks, and the Banco de la República, Colombia's central bank as well as Colombia's main stock market. As the capital city, it houses a number of government agencies including the national military headquarters and is the center of Colombia's telecommunications network. Additionally, most companies (domestic and international) in Colombia have their headquarters in Bogotá. Bogotá is a major center for the import and export of goods for Colombia and the Andean Community in Latin America and is the home of Colombia's tire, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries. Bogotá is the hub of air travel in the nation and the home of South America's first commercial airline Avianca (Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia). Railroads connect Bogotá with the Caribbean coast to the north and via (Puerto Beriro) with the Pacific coast to the west. Bogotá is on the Colombian section of the Pan-American and Simón Bolívar highways and has road connections with all major Colombian cities.

Sources for city budget

The City of Bogotá draws its budget for public expenditure largely from taxes, fees, fines, operating revenues.

Political structure

Bogotá, as the capital of the Republic of Colombia, houses the executive branch (Office of the President), the legislative branch (Congress of Colombia) and the judicial branch (Supreme Court of Justice, Constitutional Court, Council of State and the Superior Council of Judicature) of the Colombian government.

Administrative structure

The Mayor of Bogotá and the City Council, both elected by popular vote, are responsible for city administration. The City is divided into 20 localities and each of these is governed by an administrative board elected by popular vote, made up of no fewer than seven members. The Mayor designates local mayors from candidates nominated by the respective administrative board.

Website

http://www.bogota.gov.co/

Urban agriculture in Bogotá is a two-way educational process through which communities and the Botanical Garden share experiences, transfer knowledge and contribute to generating processes of joint responsibility in and around the city's green spaces.

Some of the city’s goals are to:

Strengthen 20,000 urban and peri-urban vegetable gardens by supplying seeds, inputs and/or basic tools and by creating of community seed banks for productive improvement.
Assist 40,000 people technically and/or with technology transfer for their respective production.
Train 20,000 people in agroecological techniques and technologies for the production and promotion of healthy and safe food consumption.
Develop and implement promotion and marketing strategies.

Urban agriculture practices in the City of Bogotá bring together different types of technical and scientific knowledge and experiences. This interdisciplinary approach leads to an increase in production and higher quality products in the vegetable gardens.

From the second half of 2020 to February 2022, the Botanical Garden has provided training in basic urban agriculture and related topics to 14,266 people. To date, 31,926 people have been provided with technical assistance in home, community, school and institutional gardens. In addition, the Botanical Garden has provided supplies for 11,970 vegetable gardens.

A multimedia communication strategy was developed and implemented, involving pedagogical, scientific, promotional and informative publications with the aim of making the knowledge accessible to the public. In this context, the microsite "Bogotá es mi huerta": (“Bogota is my vegetable garden”) was created, providing a space for the dissemination, visibility and exchange of knowledge and experiences.

In April 2022, the mobile application for AUPA (Urban and Peri Urban Agriculture) was launched in Bogotá D.C. This app facilitates real-time data entry and updates regarding aspects such as characterization, training methods, and technical support. It also covers marketing strategies, agroecological routes, and monitoring of the gardens, including their georeferencing. This information will be incorporated into the organization's geographic information system as well as the "Bogotá es mi huerta" (Bogotá is my vegetable garden) microsite.