2024 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"

In 2020 the park space was used as an open dump, the community did not have a good environmental education, and the public space was not considered as a place for recreation or community meetings.

The project began with large-scale clean-up campaigns, which have now resulted in the removal of 7 tonnes of rubbish from the area. After having the area cleaner, in 2021 we started with reforestation campaigns, where native or introduced species were planted. The first reforestation was of 120 units on the site, with a zero mortality rate.

In the following years we continued with the same workshops, but working in the community and the environmental, urban and vegetable garden commissions were formed, we began training community residents, so that they would be educated and could put into practice everything they had learned, and also begin the process of appropriation of the space.

The vegetable garden was built with the participation of the community, and there is also a composting area and process, which will work for the vegetables in the garden.

Thanks to the practice, we have achieved:

1. That the space is no longer an open-air dump, but an urban and environmental space.

2. That the community takes ownership of the space and takes care of it.

3. Ecological regeneration, as bird species have returned to the Tiribí River; bird counts are carried out and the results are obtained.

4. The space has trees that attract and provide food for birds.

5. Impact the urban space with more security, avoiding theft, robbery or criminal acts with urban interventions.

The recovery of the urban space and ecosystemic rehabilitation of La Sabanita in the community of Guapil has been a successful project in the canton of Alajuelita, not only because of the environmental impact, but also because of the social and human impact that was implemented with urban interventions and citizen participation.

Today it is a project that we wish to replicate in other areas of Alajuelita.

• https://www.munialajuelita.go.cr/ (External link)