Rojas, A.; Molina-Orjuela, D.; Peña-Rodríguez, L.; Hernández-Quirama, A.; Rojas-Betancur, M.; Amaya-Castellanos, C.; Rodríguez-Villamizar, L.A.; Idrovo, A.J. Contrary Perceptions of Environmental Health and the Governance of the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area, Colombia. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2023, 20, 6838.
Rojas, A.; Molina-Orjuela, D.; Peña-Rodríguez, L.; Hernández-Quirama, A.; Rojas-Betancur, M.; Amaya-Castellanos, C.; Rodríguez-Villamizar, L.A.; Idrovo, A.J. Contrary Perceptions of Environmental Health and the Governance of the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area, Colombia. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 6838.
Rojas, A.; Molina-Orjuela, D.; Peña-Rodríguez, L.; Hernández-Quirama, A.; Rojas-Betancur, M.; Amaya-Castellanos, C.; Rodríguez-Villamizar, L.A.; Idrovo, A.J. Contrary Perceptions of Environmental Health and the Governance of the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area, Colombia. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health2023, 20, 6838.
Rojas, A.; Molina-Orjuela, D.; Peña-Rodríguez, L.; Hernández-Quirama, A.; Rojas-Betancur, M.; Amaya-Castellanos, C.; Rodríguez-Villamizar, L.A.; Idrovo, A.J. Contrary Perceptions of Environmental Health and the Governance of the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area, Colombia. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 6838.
Abstract
The participation of civil society is essential for environmental health policies to be effective. The objective of this study was to know the perceptions of government officials, members of civil society, and academics about environmental health problems and its governance in Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area, Colombia. In the region there is a strong citizen movement that defends the moorland ecosystem (paramo) as source of drinking water, of large-scale mining projects. A multi-method study was carried out including the review of newspaper and scientific articles, a citizen survey, and interviews and focus groups with identified key stakeholders. The findings indicate that government officials prioritize their actions on issues related to air and water pollution and environmental education. In contrast, citizens prioritize water availability from the moorland ecosystem. There are some advances in the management of environmental health, mainly related to greater citizen awareness. The participation of civil society in the environmental health governance must be enforced to broaden the issues of interest and prioritize the activities in the short- and long-term policy planning. An experience between high school students and the academy that measures air pollutants can be the first meeting point with government officials in the pathway to improve the environmental governance in the territory.
Keywords
environmental health; multilevel governance; air pollution; water pollution; health policy.
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Public, Environmental and Occupational Health
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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