From leadership research to district action: Contrary Perceptions of Environmental Health and the Governance of the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area, Colombia

AI-assisted editorial implementation guide. Proposed district actions are separate from the original authors’ findings and recommendations. Independent peer review of this guide is not asserted.

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Evidence and transfer

Education-related source: verify which participants, institutions and outcomes were actually studied before district adoption. Source publication type: research-article. License and identity checks do not establish study quality or causality.

Original authors’ abstract, reproduced under the source license:

Abstract The participation of civil society is essential for environmental health policies to be accepted. 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 the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area, Colombia. In the region, there is a strong citizens movement that defends the moorland ecosystem (páramo) as a source of drinking water for large-scale mining projects. A multi-method study was conducted, including the review of newspaper and scientific articles, a citizens 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. Contrary perceptions among government officials, academics, and civil society prevent adequate prioritization of environmental health problems. Participation of civil society is absent in activities related to environmental governance. An ongoing citizens science experience engaging high school students and the academy can be the first meeting point with government officials in the pathway to improve the environmental governance in the territory. The participation of civil society in the environmental health governance must be enforced to broaden the issues of interest and prioritize the activities in short- and long-term policy planning. Keywords: environmental health, multilevel governance, air pollution, water pollution, health policy

Study methods

Bucaramanga, the capital of the department of Santander, is in the northeast of Colombia on a plateau of the eastern cordillera. The city is located at 959 m a.s.l. with a subtropical highland climate and annual mean temperature of 27 °C. The local economy depends mainly on activities in the education, health, and tourism sectors, as well as agribusiness, metal–mechanics, and the traditional production of footwear. Bucaramanga was known nationally in the past decade as “the city of the parks” for its conservation of green spaces across the city. The other municipalities of the BMA are Floridablanca, Piedecuesta, and Girón, and all four municipalities are closely related, since there is a permanent natural movement of population among them. In total, the BMA population in 2023 was estimated to be ~1,112,000 inhabitants.

Limitations

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A 90-day district inquiry

Days 1–15 · Appraise. Read the source methods, recruitment, comparator, outcomes and limitations. Record how the study setting differs from your district and which claim the design can support.
Days 16–30 · Design. Select one recurring district decision. Publish the decision owner, evidence requirements, consultation process and appeal route; test the process on a bounded low-risk decision. Agree participation, privacy protections, baseline and stopping rules before starting.
Days 31–60 · Observe. Collect the pre-agreed measures, keep a log of implementation changes and invite confidential voluntary feedback. Preserve existing support for staff and learners.
Days 61–90 · Decide. Track decision time, unresolved objections, documented reasons, appeals and access differences. Review whether the process changes who can participate and who carries the burden. Make a dated decision to stop, revise or extend the inquiry.

Board decision brief

Present the local problem, source setting, evidence limits, intervention, responsible owner, total cost, measured changes and uncertainty. Separate staff perceptions, implementation measures and student learning outcomes.

Attribution and reuse

Alexander Rojas; Douglas Molina-Orjuela; Laura Peña-Rodríguez; Andrea Hernández-Quirama; Mauricio Rojas-Betancur; Claudia Amaya-Castellanos; Laura A Rodríguez-Villamizar; Alvaro J Idrovo. Contrary Perceptions of Environmental Health and the Governance of the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Area, Colombia. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2023-09-27). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20196838

Prepared 2026-11-07. Source authorship and DOI are preserved. The abstract and source passages are attributed extracts; this editorial guide is offered under the same CC BY 4.0 license.