The international event that brings together the gurus of forest medicine, forest therapies as practices that redefine the therapeutic potential of the reunion with nature, is approaching.
In this second Symposium (the first took place in April 2021) the central guest is the renowned author Richard Louv, creator of the concepts “Nature Deficit” and “Vitamin N” that have gone around the world.
The Botanical Garden of Bogotá included the Nature, Health and Culture program as one of its strategic commitments and today it is a leader at the district and national level in the nature-health intersection and the only entity that institutionally offers nature therapies.
“We create a model of a caring city, which treasures its green infrastructure and offers it as meeting spaces for reconnection with nature, under a two-way conservation approach (human health/nature health) that can be replicated anywhere. in the world and which is also being recognized by international experts”, Martha Liliana Perdomo Ramírez, director of the Bogotá Botanical Garden.
Bogotá, DC September 19, 2023.- For the second time, Bogotá will be the scene of a high-level scientific and academic meeting to address a topic that is becoming more relevant every day in society, especially after the pandemic and its effects on people’s physical, mental and emotional health. Its about Second International Vitamin N Symposium: a free and open space that will take place on September 29 and 30 in virtual and in-person mode, respectively, and that claims the therapeutic value of nature.
As an unthinkable coincidence, in 2020, when Mayor Claudia López’s Development Plan, “A New Social and Environmental Contract for 21st Century Bogotá,” was being formulated, the Bogotá Botanical Garden included the Nature, Health and Culture program, as one of its strategic bets, to care for oneself, others and the environment, while the health emergency due to Covid 19 gained global prominence.
Stress, anxiety and depression, accentuated by the disconnection with nature in cities, as a result of confinement, became primary and critical issues that required the scientific and academic community to address a naturalistic perspective and understand the way in which Environment can influence the physical, mental and emotional well-being of people.
Today, three years later, Bogotá has a lot to say, for example, that this program provides, in a proven way, nature-based solutions to mitigate these problems, making the Bogotá Botanical Garden a leader at the district and national level in the intersection of nature – health and the only entity that institutionally offers nature therapies.
As a scientific research center, the Bogotá Botanical Garden assumed this program at the highest level of commitment to the health of people and ecosystems, aware that reciprocal positive consequences emerge from a respectful relationship between humans and the environment.
“We created a model of a caring city, which treasures its green infrastructure and offers it as meeting spaces for reconnection with nature, under a two-way conservation approach (human health/nature health) that can be replicated anywhere. part of the world and which is also being recognized by international experts,” said Martha Liliana Perdomo Ramírez, director of the Bogotá Botanical Garden, referring to the Program, which to date has benefited more than 17,000 people, including workers in the health sector and participating citizens of the District Care System.
The Symposium
Talking about forest therapies and “Vitamin N” is not only joining a global movement that invites us to become part of nature again, but it is talking about issues that experts from Japan, Korea and the United States have been promoting for three decades. United, who have inspired specialists in medicine, psychology and other disciplines to combine their therapeutic approaches with the attributes of nature.
In this second Symposium (the first took place in April 2021) the central guest is the award-winning author Richard Louv, creator of the concepts “Nature Deficit Disorder” and “Vitamin N” that have gone around the world and whose The scientific base today accounts for the restorative power of immersing ourselves in green spaces and the urgency of reconnecting with nature.
Immunologist Dr. Qing Li, creator of Shinrin Yoku(forest bathing) and Forest Medicine, both now recognized thanks to the results of their research, as medical alternatives for the prevention of diseases.
The presence of Dr. Won Sop Shin is also highlighted, who will share with the participants how this vision and practice has become public policy in Korea and how the law on forests and human health was created in this country; being the first proclaimed act that links forests, happiness and health, worldwide.
Along with these experts will be a dozen authoritative voices on the subject from countries such as Spain, Costa Rica, Japan, Canada and of course Colombia, which is moving steadily towards the consolidation of a topic that aspires to become a prescribable factor in clinics. doctors of the country. And with pioneering research, led by the INS that seeks to measure the effects of immersion in nature on stress reduction in a population of health professionals, it advances in the construction of scientific knowledge about the therapeutic potential of the areas urban natural.
The Symposium will be held virtually through the Facebook and YouTube channels of the Bogotá Botanical Garden, in continuous transmission from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on September 29 and will be available on these networks for those who want to view it. after.
On Saturday, September 30, the agenda consists of a nature therapy marathon that will be carried out in person and simultaneously in 10 urban forests and parks in the city, including the Bogotá Botanical Garden.
Those interested may register through an electronic form and participate for free depending on the proximity of the natural area that suits them. These therapies will be led by specialized guides in each part of the city and have limited space, in order of registration.
To learn all the details of this event, register for the virtual symposium and participate in a forest or nature therapy, visit these links
https://jbb.gov.co/simposio-internacional-vitamina-n-2023/
https://forms.office.com/r/0LwSFm8pfp
