Jardín Botánico de Bogotá José Celestino Mutis
The Pitch
The José Celestino Mutis Botanical Gardens of Bogotá developed the Information System for Urban Tree Management (SIGAU) to conduct a tree census across the city, collect data on ecosystem services and plan the locations of future tree plantings.
The Problem
Bogotá lacked data on the number of trees in the city, where they were planted, their health and their cost-effectiveness—creating a lack of public knowledge about their impact and importance and making tree maintenance difficult.
The Process
- Compiled technical data on urban tree plantings to create a comprehensive database of Bogotá's trees and supplemental information about them
- Created SIGAU—a website and an app—that tracks the location, characteristics and health condition of the city’s trees
- Used geostatistical models to quantify ecosystem services of Bogotá's trees and made this information publicly available on SIGAU
The Impact
- Allows users to consistently and clearly update urban trees’ status in SIGAU
- Facilitated planting of 500,000 trees in the city since its launch
- Monitors and helps to maintain over 400,000 urban trees per year
- Guides public policy decisions, such as where to plant new trees, what species and how to maintain them
- Enables the community to be more involved in urban forestry and better understand the benefits of urban trees: Over 40,000 users visit the SIGAU app or site annually
- Inspired other cities across Colombia to conduct tree censuses and use technology to advance urban forestry
