ECOLOGICALLY REGENERATIVE GARDENING
Human activity throughout its evolution on earth has resulted in the alteration of natural ecosystems to the point of generating a global problem of species extinction that in the last century is reaching very alarming levels. Did you know that, in the last 100 years, it is estimated that the rate of species extinction is between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural background rate, suggesting that we are experiencing a "sixth mass extinction".
At Green Garden Corp. as a leading company in the landscaping and gardening sector in the Caribbean and LATAM, we are very clear about this problem and we maintain a firm commitment to do our bit in trying to recover the natural balances of the areas where we carry out our professional activity and to influence our clients and the general public by example.
This commitment has led us to develop new lines of action in new construction or renovation projects for gardens and green areas, as well as in the protocols for their maintenance operations. Regeneration or ecological restoration is a scientific and planned process that aims to revitalise ecosystems that have been degraded, damaged or altered by human activities or natural events. It consists of the reintroduction or recovery of native plant and animal species, as well as the rehabilitation of key ecological processes, with the aim of re-establishing the original functionality and diversity of the ecosystem.
This process may involve the revegetation of degraded areas, the reintroduction of endangered species, the restoration of ecological corridors and the implementation of sustainable management practices. Ecological regeneration seeks not only to restore ecosystems to health and biodiversity, but also to provide benefits such as carbon sequestration, water conservation and protection against natural disasters.
One of the main measures that we have been working on for years is the new implementation and modification of garden designs, transforming traditional concepts based mainly on floral aesthetics and the colour provided by species that are often not native to an area.
We are developing new lines of work whose main objective is the recovery of native species in the areas of action, evolving towards a gardening and landscaping of ecological regeneration that ultimately seeks the recovery of habitats and the most balanced possible integration of human activity with the environment where it takes place. We seek to transform gardens into true ecosystems of ecological regeneration, where native flora and fauna populations thrive in harmony.
Elementos causales del deterioro de ecosistemas en el Magdalena medio (Fuente: Garzón y Gutiérrez 2013).
Miami-Dade County has used the Camp Matecumbe Playground design as a model in developing playgrounds at various parks throughout the county.
Ventana de la experiencia piloto restauración ecológica del bosque ripario del Caño Rabón, Gamarra (Cesar) (Adaptado de: Garzón et al. 2014)
These actions of implementation and reform extend to the development of new methods of managing and maintaining green areas in the least invasive ways possible by replacing the use of agrochemicals and industrially synthesised fertilisers with natural methods of generating organic soil fertility, promoting balanced populations of micro-organisms and diversity in both soils and above ground parts of plant assemblages.
We are committed not only to creating beautiful landscapes, but also to building healthy and resilient ecosystems that enrich our environment and promote sustainable coexistence between human activity and nature.