Monitoreo y evaluación del impacto ambiental en zonas urbanas de Bogotá. Implementación de indicadores y soluciones comunitarias

Abstract

The José Celestino Mutis Botanical Garden of Bogotá is a public institution that for several decades has worked on biodiversity conservation, scientific research, and environmental education for citizens. Within this framework, this internship was developed with the aim of supporting the consolidation of community processes and the formulation of indicators of citizen participation under the Territorial Strategy. This effort responds to the city’s current environmental challenges, particularly climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss, all of which directly affect community well-being (IPCC, 2021; World Economic Forum, 2025). The internship was conducted under the Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology, which made it possible to engage with the territory through dialogue of knowledge, recognizing communities as key actors in environmental management (Fals Borda, 1985; Greenwood & Levin, 1998). Through workshops, field visits, and meetings with community groups, practices of care and appropriation of urban ecosystems were identified, while progress was made in designing and adjusting indicators to evaluate the impact of community participation. These instruments are essential not only to guide institutional management but also to highlight collective contributions to urban sustainability (Ostrom, 1990). A key contribution of the internship was the systematization of territorial experiences and the organization of internal documents that strengthen institutional memory. This process revealed that environmental education actions have a greater long-term impact when they foster social appropriation of knowledge and empower communities in decision-making about their environments (UNESCO, 2021). Likewise, the importance of promoting nature-based solutions was emphasized as a strategy to address environmental problems while improving quality of life in the city (IUCN, 2020). This experience confirms that environmental management cannot depend exclusively on institutions. It is essential to acknowledge local knowledge and strengthen community organization, as it is from these spaces that initiatives arise which complement and enrich public policies (Leff, 2004). In this sense, the Botanical Garden consolidates itself as a bridge between scientific knowledge and citizen practices, generating processes that not only protect biodiversity but also strengthen the social fabric and promote an environmental culture in Bogotá.