A Capital City Becomes Nature's Laboratory

A green space that houses a community garden is shown on the city map. But the reality is different: The ground is dry and dusty, garbage piles are all around, and plastic is blowing in the wind. In this setting, the community garden is a small oasis. Not only for the eyes of residents and passers-by, but also for the families who don't have to sit in front of empty plates thanks to the potatoes, cabbage, broccoli and carrots grown here. This space is also a haven for the water reserves of Sucre, a city of about 300,000 inhabitants.

The "Huerto urbano," the community garden, was created out of necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The city government had asked Helvetas to do something for food security. The idea of a neighborhood garden was enthusiastically received; the city made public land available and promised to provide the necessary water, and Helvetas provided shade nets that also protect against animals, watering cans and rakes, seeds and seedlings, and conducted training courses on vegetable cultivation.

Here, in Sucre's District III, it is mainly newcomers who live off the land; there are hardly any income opportunities. For Zenobia Yucra, the small garden is essential for survival. The 31-year-old came to Sucre from the highlands a few years ago to train as a nurse. During the pandemic, she worked day and night, always on short-term contracts with no social security – and once even without pay for six months. "I couldn't just let people die," she said. When the hospital director changed, she and many of her colleagues lost their jobs, and she was unable to find a new one – partly due to her pregnancy. "The garden helps me a lot. I can eat healthily," which is particularly important because she is breastfeeding her daughter Zoe. At the moment, Zoe is sleeping blissfully in a shawl; she doesn't yet know the worries of her mother and the world.

Today, the COVID-19 pandemic still casts a shadow, but the restrictions are history – and the small neighborhood garden in Districto III, far away from the hustle and bustle of Sucre city life, holds an important pioneering function.  

A special kind of laboratory

Seventy percent of Bolivia's population lives in and around urban centers. New settlements are emerging around historic city centers and their outskirts; these settlements are not connected to infrastructure such as water supply and sewage systems, and exist without schools or healthcare. To counter the precarious situation of newcomers and the growing pressure on public services, Bolivia wants to promote integral urban development that considers the consequences of climate change. Helvetas, which has a strong network in Sucre, offered its support to the city government.

Urbanization is a disaster for the soil, which is constantly being compacted due to the high level of construction activity, meaning that water can hardly seep away when it rains. But the city is dependent on rain, which feeds the groundwater reserves that supply Sucre. Rain is becoming rarer due to global warming, yet sometimes falls so heavily that the valuable water runs off unused because the soil is impermeable. The mayor's response to Helvetas' proposal to look for nature-based solutions to this problem was along the lines of "consider Sucre your laboratory."

What are nature-based solutions? The European Commission defines them as "...solutions that are inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience. Such solutions bring more, and more diverse, nature and natural features and processes into cities, landscapes and seascapes, through locally adapted, resource-efficient and systemic interventions.” This is where the small community garden in Sucre's Districto III again comes into play: Gardens make the soil permeable.

However, a law was needed to have gardens on public land. Helvetas supported the necessary political process. In December 2023, Sucre's parliament passed this law. The condition is that the vegetables are grown for personal consumption and not sold. It is now possible to apply for the creation of community gardens on "areas verdes," which are green spaces that are designated in urban planning.

Reclaiming the public space

The gardens are one tiny piece of a huge puzzle of necessary changes to make Sucre climate-resilient, accessible to all and safe. But changes will only last if the population makes them their own – and is able to do so. Helvetas wanted to hear from the residents of the city and the surrounding areas about how they would like to change the city in the face of daily traffic chaos, environmental pollution and climate change, and launched an "Ideathon" to bring forth a large volume of ideas.

One of the ideas led to the creation of a small park on the site of a former garbage dump in an outlying district, where children can play and even hummingbirds visit because plants were deliberately grown there for them. "We didn't use to see each other that often. Where would we? Now we have a place to chat," said Justa Felipe, who lives near the new park. Friends and strangers come by and fall in love with the beauty of the Plaza Jardin. It is one part of this huge puzzle and is intended to inspire other neighborhoods.

Another idea led three young architecture students to develop cubes made of solid wood called "Cubos."  Like all Ideathon winning projects, the young women received financial and technical support, did research, talked to people on the street about their wishes for public space, developed prototypes – and even convinced the mayor to move forward with their plan.

Today, dozens of these cubes are brought to the main square every Sunday. They serve as stage elements or stools. The population uses them to reclaim public space in the city center, because once a week the city center around Plaza 25 de Mayo is car-free to reduce air pollution. Bands play, theater is performed, people are invited to dance, children play soccer, and the young and old meet up. "People used to sit in a row on the fixed benches. It wasn't easy to talk to each other," a young woman said over the noise of a rock band. "Now we can sit in a circle and have a proper chat. That's nice."

The "Cubos" include umbrellas, plants and garbage cans. It used to cost money to rent the infrastructure for the square every Sunday, said Gabriela Sahonero, the city's culture manager. Thanks to the savings made by the "Cubos" and Helvetas' support, the city can now contribute to more activities, especially cultural ones. "Culture gives people a good feeling, a sense of happiness that they take home with them. This makes the population more resilient," she said.

Through culture, the city can also promote gender equality. "We can address and combat issues such as violence in all its forms. Culture is education. Culture strengthens your own identity." Young people often ask themselves who they are in this global world. "By strengthening their cultural identity, we strengthen them for the future," said Gabriela.

There is still a long way to go

In 2025, Bolivia will celebrate the bicentenary of its independence. The host city is Sucre, and it has big plans: It wants to green a 30-kilometer stretch of the river that flows through the city. This project, the "Corredor ecologico del Bicentenario," is intended to inspire city dwellers to get moving, enjoy nature and biodiversity and to show Bolivians how important nature is in urban environments. Plans include a "Greenway," a cycle path on a disused railroad line, pavilions for cultural events and parks where people can linger. The project is being financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, but the idea came from Helvetas, since a protected and well-maintained river is a nature-based solution and an important step towards a more climate-resilient city.

"Helvetas told us that we need to rethink the city in the face of climate change. This gave rise to the idea of the Corredor," explained Anny Vargas, Sucre's urban and spatial planner, during a tour of the city. She often talks about plans and ideas that have been (or had to be) put on the back burner due to a lack of funds. This is because the state government recently cut three quarters of the funding to the municipalities. And yet the city is not giving up on reinventing itself in a nature-oriented way. 

Helvetas supports and trains the authorities in their constant search for possible measures to make Sucre a city worth living in for many years to come. "We in the administration plan the city. We need this knowledge," said Anny. "It's the same here as everywhere else: Needs change as we grow, and we ask ourselves how we should tackle new problems as they arise – and what kind of city we want."

The Ideathon was the right initative for this moment. "In everyday life, in your own world, you don't see everything," she said. "When you meet the population, you realize that there are other problems in the city that weren't even on your radar. We have to plan all projects – now and in the future – with the population. That's the only way to get them on board. That is crucial. It's not just about cycle paths, it's about waste and water. It's about how we treat each other and the city."

In five years, her vision is that Sucre will be greener and have more recreational space. "We have to make people understand that this is not a government project, but theirs. They live here. They will see the changes." And in ten years' time? "In ten years' time, Sucre will be a more inclusive city, a safer city where women and children in particular can move around safely."