Last updated: April 2025
The Juan Angola River is an urban channel included in the system of rivers and channels of Cartagena, and it connects the Ciénaga de la Virgen wetland and the Bay of Cartagena, facing similar issues as the Cienaga de la Virgen such as illegal occupation of its shores, illegal waste dumping, deforestation of mangroves, and pollution. The recovery plan for the Juan Angola River is led by the EPA Cartagena (Environmental Protection Agency), with the support of other institutions, aiming to restore the Juan Angola’s ecosystem. This includes targeting the mangrove forest, dredging the natural channel, and delineating buffer zones with urban infrastructure to create public recreational spaces. The activities involve relocating people illegalling cupping informal settlements from the river shore, moving an existing bridge (the Benjamín Herrera bridge) which obstructs the current, recovering the low tide and riverbed areas, building pedestrian paths, clean the riverbank, recover mangrove areas and establish programs of education and environmental awareness (ref 1 and 2).
aerial image of a section of the Juan Angola Canal
EPA Cartagena https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/947fe3f7e41a44728054fa1f6789ac14
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Blue infrastructure
- Rivers/streams/canals/estuaries
- Coastal wetland, mangroves and salt marshes
Key challenges
- Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
- Climate change mitigation
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Green space creation and/or management
- Habitat and biodiversity restoration
- Water management (SDG 6)
- Flood protection
- Improvements to water quality
- Health and well-being (SDG 3)
- Creation of opportunities for recreation
- Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
- Environmental education
Principal problems in Functional Urban Area (FUA)
- Climate-Related Hazards
- Urban flooding (stormwater)
- Environmental Degradation
- Deforestation and forest degradation
- Poor water quality
- Land use and Socio-economic change
- Rapid urbanization
Key priorities
Biodiversity (conservation and/or restoration)
Focus
Management and improved protection of rivers and other blue areas, River rehabilitation/ restoration, Coastal landscape management or protection, Coastal ecosystems restoration and maintenance (mangroves, dunes, saltplains, underwater meadows), Ecological restoration of ecosystems, Restoration of mangroves
Project objectives
- Recover, protect, and conserve the Juan Angola Channel, including restoring public spaces or low-tide areas and managing human settlements in the La Unión area (ref 4).
- Increase green space by planting new trees and mangrove seedlings (ref 4).
- Restoring the mangrove wildlife and conserving the natural ecosystem of the Juan Angola Channel, which acts as a natural carbon sink (ref 2)(ref 4).
- Recover the river's hydraulic capacity to provide a natural buffer against floods caused by heavy rain and water runoff and reduce the risk of disasters in the surrounding areas (ref 2).
- Giving the city back a natural space that generates living labs for environmental and climate education and areas for contemplation and recreation. (ref 2).
Implementation activities
- Recovery of public spaces or low-tide areas, the management of human settlements in the La Unión sector, the restoration of mangrove areas and their wildlife, and the improvement of the canal’s channel and its hydraulic capacity, among other aspects (ref 1)
- Removing the Benjamín Herrera Bridge and constructing a new bridge in a wider area between the Marbella and La Unión sectors, which will require redefining the mobility system in the area (ref 1)
- Recovering the low-tide areas, building pedestrian pathways once the families are relocated, conducting cleanups and dredging, restoring mangrove areas, and initiating a large-scale environmental education and awareness campaign in that sector (ref 1).
- Planting of 10 trees and 100 mangrove seedlings donated by the Casa Mangle Foundation. The activity, which was attended by the director of the EPA, Javier Mouton, included the participation of community leaders from the Torices neighbourhood, members of the Colombian Environmental Guard, and Environmental Watchmen (ref 8).
- Community leaders from the Torices neighbourhood, members of the Colombian Environmental Guard, and Environmental Watchmen participated in clean-up activities, supported by organisations such as local security fronts, the neighbourhood association, and the COMBA of the 7 de Agosto neighbourhood (ref 4).
Climate-focused activities
Climate change mitigation:
- Protect and restore coastal wetlands, mangroves and salt marshes, aiming at sequestering carbon dioxide and storing it in their soils
Communities vulnerable to environmental hazards or climate change impacts
Yes
Specification of climate or environmentally vulnerable communities
Low-income neighborhoods, Riverfront communities, Informal settlements or slums
Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities
Biodiversity restoration:
- Rehabilitate and restore damaged or destroyed ecosystems
- Restore species (native, endangered, or unspecified)
- Restore native species
- Public engagement
Main beneficiaries
- Local government/Municipality
- Citizens or community groups
- Marginalized groups: Homeless people & people living in informal settlements, Vulnerable populations in disaster-prone areas
Governance
Management set-up
- Government-led
Type of initiating organisation
- Local government/municipality
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
- Taskforce groups
- Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
- Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
- Co-management/Joint management
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
EPA Cartagena coordinates the inter-institutional working group, assigning tasks to each authority to advance the Juan Angola Canal recovery plan. Participants include DIMAR, the Local Mayor's Office, General Secretariat, Public Services Office, Corvivienda, Environmental Guard, International Airport operator, Secretariat of Participation, and Police (ref 4). Authorities like the Secretariat of Finance, Legal Office, Secretariat of Planning, Secretariat of Infrastructure, Corvivienda, Cardique, Edurbe, Public Space Office, and International Cooperation Office oversee the recovery plan (ref 5). The project also involves community leaders, residents from Torices, local groups like the Environmental Watchmen, and Environmental Police in clean-up drives and awareness campaigns (ref 4).
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a national policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a local policy or strategy?
Yes
(In 2020, former Cartagena Mayor William Dau issued Decree 1338, which granted EPA the authority to enforce court rulings that mandate environmental protection, including the recovery of the Juan Angola Canal. The following year, EPA presented a comprehensive recovery plan that included cleanup efforts, dredging, and environmental education. (ref 7))
Type of enablers
Governance innovations (such as public private partnerships)
Financing
Total cost
More than €4,000,000
Source(s) of funding
- Public local authority budget
- Public regional budget
Type of funding
- Earmarked public budget
Non-financial contribution
Type of non-financial contribution
- Provision of labour
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
- Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Environmental quality
- Improved waste management
- Achieved improved waste management
- Water management and blue areas
- Improved water quality
- Achieved improved water quality
- Increased protection against flooding
- Expected increased protection against flooding
- Enhanced protection and restoration of freshwater ecosystems
- Expected enhanced protection and restoration of freshwater ecosystems
- Green space and habitat
- Increased green space area
- Achieved increased green space area
- Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
- Expected increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
- Increased conversion of degraded land or soil
- Achieved increased conversion of degraded land or soil
- Restoration of derelict areas
- Expected restoration of derelict areas
Economic impacts
- Unknown
Socio-cultural impacts
- Social justice and cohesion
- Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
- Achieved increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
- Health and wellbeing
- Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
- Expected gain in activities for recreation and exercise
- Education
- Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
- Achieved increased knowledge of locals about local nature
Type of reported impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
Yes
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
Yes
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Potential risks of implementation and trade-offs
Social justice and conflicts, Lack of social acceptance, Displacement of vulnerable or marginalized communities
References
1.
EPA Cartagena (2021). EPA presenta propuesta del plan de recuperación integral del caño Juan Angola, sector La Unión. Accessed on August 14, 2024, [Source link];
2.
Cities4Forests (n.d.). Recovery of the environmental conditions and ecosystem services of Juan Angola natural channel. Accessed on August 14, 2024, [Source link];
3.
EPA Cartagena (2015). Lagunas y cuerpos de agua internos. Accessed on August 14, 2024, [Source link];
4.
EPA Cartagena (2023). EPA Cartagena continúa plan para rescatar caño Juan Angola. Accessed on August 14, 2024, [Source link];
5.
EPA Cartagena (2021). CAÑO JUAN ANGOLA INTERVENCIONES SOCIOAMBIENTALES. Accessed on August 14, 2024, [Source link];
6.
Cartagena Mayor's Office (2024). Juan Angola, recuperando su resplandor. Accessed on August 14, 2024, [Source link];
7.
La Contratopedia Caribe (2024). La tragedia (y esperanza) del Juan Angola en Cartagena. Accessed on August 14, 2024, [Source link];
8.
El Universal (2022). Siembran 100 mangles y 10 árboles en cercanías al caño Juan Angola. Accessed on August 30, 2024, [Source link];
9.
El Universal (2024). Poda de mangle en el caño Juan Angola, ¿cómo impacta al ecosistema?. Accessed on August 30, 2024, [Source link];
image of a section of the canal
La Contratopedia Caribe https://lacontratopediacaribe.com/la-tragedia-y-esperanza-del-juan-angola-en-cartagena/
visit of the EPA Cartagena and national police to the canal
EPA Cartagena https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/947fe3f7e41a44728054fa1f6789ac14
planting session in Juan Angola neighborhoods
EPA Cartagena https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/947fe3f7e41a44728054fa1f6789ac14
Information about this nature-based solution was collected as part of the Naturescapes project funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No 101084341.