Valoración sociocultural de servicios ecosistémicos del Bosque San Carlos, Bogotá (estudio de caso)

Abstract

The present research aims to assess the sociocultural value of the cultural ecosystem services of the Urban Forest "Bosque de San Carlos," as well as the main socio-environmental issues it faces that may affect the provision of these services. From this assessment, the most important ecosystem services were identified and prioritized based on their demographic and socioeconomic characterization, considering the perception and motivation values expressed by the population in the context of this park. Based on this, an action plan is proposed for the integral management of the natural space, ensuring the provision of ecosystem services. This was determined through the application of two semi-structured surveys. The first was a pilot survey administered to 10 people to verify the consistency and coherence of the proposed questions. The definitive survey was then applied to a population of 90 people in some way related to the Bosque de San Carlos park. The information collected from the surveys was processed using descriptive statistical analysis, establishing the motivation and perception values of the cultural ecosystem services. With these results, a double-entry causality matrix was applied to prioritize and identify the main issues mentioned by the surveyed population. An action plan was proposed to address the global issues from a sustainable perspective. In general terms, it was identified that the most important evaluated cultural ecosystem services are recreation, accounting for 35.5% of the total, followed by physical health at 24.4%, and mental health at 17.8%. The most frequently identified environmental issues in the Bosque de San Carlos were insecurity and civic culture, each with a participation rate of 30% and 26.6%, respectively. From this, the causality matrix determined that the central problem in the study area is inadequate maintenance and management of the space, which results in all the mentioned issues. To address this problem, two programs were formulated, each with its respective projects, related to environmental education and the improvement of maintenance and management regarding physical security and users' perception of safety.