Citizen participation as a strengthening strategy of the governance of air quality in the North Sabana

The expansion that the North Bogotá savanna has had, not only in terms of population but also in industries, has generated an increase in emissions and therefore episodes of poor air quality in the region. This project seeks to identify and evaluate instruments and proposals for socialization that allow progress towards the governance of air quality in the municipalities of the Northern Sabana de Bogotá and assess the perception and information to which citizens have access. From the air quality information available in the SISAIRE system, the moving averages for the pollutants PM10, PM2.5, SO2, and NO2 were made for the municipalities of Sopó and Cajicá, and these levels were compared with the Resolution 2254 of 2017. Two particular cases were found, in which exceptional states should have been declared due to poor air quality. According to the regulations, the high concentrations of PM2.5 in Sopó and Cajicá led to levels of prevention and alert in the month of March 2020. Of these episodes there was no dissemination to the community, nor measures to protect their health. Additionally, a survey was conducted to determine the knowledge and participation that citizens in the North Sabana have regarding the air quality in their municipalities. The lack of interest, little knowledge and low participation that the community has regarding issues related to air quality was evident. For this reason, it is necessary to encourage citizen participation in the processes that are being carried out in terms of air quality. A strategy to achieve this purpose is the approach and interaction with the environment secretariats of Sopó and Cajicá that have opened to the project spaces for dialogue and training of citizens on air quality issues, addressing issues such as criteria pollutants, regulations related to quality of the air, protocols and the precautions before the exceptional states, in addition to giving instructions to access the information systems on air quality.