A 4,000 acre forest preserve will be established in the northeastern edge of Bogota, a local environmental organization announced Tuesday.
The Corporacion Autonoma Regional de Cundinamarca (CAR) negotiated with the governor of the Cundinamarca department to protect a large tract of land in the neighborhoods of Suba and Usaquen in the north of the capital.
Governor of Cundinamarca Andres Gonzalez Diaz, told Radio Santa Fe that the preserve is a historic and crucial step for the environmental balance in the city.
“The decision will contribute to environmental balance, a very important step from the point of view of the ecological connection that must exist between the eastern hills and the Bogota river,” the governor explained.
The preserve will be named after Thomas Van Der Hammen, a late Dutch scientist and environmentalist who contributed to the protection and studies of the area.