Ecological Support Structure (ESS) for Land Use Management: The Case of The Municipality of Florida

Abstract

The Main Ecological Structure (EEP) plays a pivotal role in territorial planning by integrating environmental criteria into rural land use planning, urban development projects, land partitioning, and construction. However, many Territorial Planning Schemes (POT) in Colombia often limit the environmental component to legally established protected areas and regional environmental determinants, such as protection zones. This approach falls short in conserving biodiversity and environmental services vital for sustainable productive processes. The study proposes methodological approach for the POT of the municipality of La Florida based on the concept of Ecological Support Structure (EES), comprising the EEP and Ecological Infrastructure (IE). The EES encompasses two complementary concepts: the Current Ecological Support Structure (EESA) and the Minimum Ecological Support Structure (EESM). While the former may or may not be utilized sustainably by society despite being suitable for maintaining ecological services, the latter includes areas that must be preserved, critical areas, and areas of direct human use. By incorporating the IE, the resulting EES effectively doubles the areas of conservation and environmental protection, increasing from the mandatory 28.36 % to 56.02 %. Newly proposed areas include connectivity corridors, watercourses, springs, associated protection areas, water recharge areas, protection slopes, and the environmental theme park “La casa del Roble”. Consequently, the EES promises significant enhancement of the biophysical conditions of ecosystems upon which ecosystem services rely.