Uploaded on 2015-11-30 by ricardoavella

**1. Provisioning Services:** **Fresh Water:** there are many streams that descend from the **Ávila Mountain** down to the Guaire River. Many years ago, these creeks were very important for the city, both as a supply of fresh water and an alternative for recreational spaces. But the urban development, unfortunately, has covered these creeks, hiding them completely. All of them are now contaminated, since many informal developments (but not only) discharge the sewage waters in these streams. Nowadays, the **Embalse La Mariposa** is one of the compensatory reservoirs that provide water to the city when the main reservoirs cannot meet the city needs. The Camatagua Reservoir is the most important one, since it provides almost all the water Caracas demands, but it is very distant from Caracas (144 km away). This shows how fragile and unsustainable Caracas is in terms of water provisioning. But the Embalse La Mariposa, despite being only a compensatory reservoir, is inside the metropolitan region, and thus can be considered another ecosystem of Caracas. ![https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14488996165489539.jpg][2] Embalse La Mariposa (source: https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2123/2269836221_c2b963575f_b.jpg) **2. Regulating Services:** **Local Climate and Air Quality:** Caracas has two National Parks inside its metropolitan region. We have spoken about the **Ávila National Park** (12.036 Ha.) in the north, but there is also the **Macarao National Park** in the west, with 7.274 hectares. The city has other areas under special administration regimes: there is the **Zona Protectora del Área Metropolitana de Caracas** (.984 Ha.), and many others (much smaller ones) that add up to 1.098 hectares. All these green areas contribute to the quality of the air in the city, since they constitute more than 303 km2 of tropical woods and forests. ![https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/1448900998484746.jpg][3] Areas under special administration regimes (ABRAE) inside the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (source: Plan Caracas 2020 >>> http://www.plancaracas2020.com/plan/) **Moderation of Extreme Events:** As I told you in a previous statement, the urban development of Caracas has chosen (unfortunately) to cover most of the creeks that descend from the Ávila Mountain. But there are two green areas in the city that represent an important buffer in case of an extreme natural event: the **Parque Los Chorros**, and the golf courses of the **Caracas Country Club**. Both of them are located at the foots of the Ávila National Park, exactly where two streams that descend from the mountain meet with the urban part of the city. In the first case, the *Agua de Maíz* stream and its waterfalls are the main attraction of the **Los Chorros Park**. This park preserves the original characteristics of the *Gallery Forests* that usually create a green corridor along a specific water course. It is a beautiful park, used as a recreational space by its citizens, but is also a buffer that entraps all the rocks, the dirt, the trunks and the branches that the water stream brings with its increased volume of water, in case of a heavy tropical storm. This park not only works as a recreational space, but also helps the surrounding neighborhoods from flooding and being destroyed by very fast streams of water, that because of the height and the slope of the mountain can be very destructive. As the specialist usually say, the danger of a water avalanche from the mountain is not only the quantity and the velocity of the water, but specially what it brings along... ![https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489024431822494.jpg][4] Los Chorros Park (source: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489023831534443.jpg) The golf courses of the Caracas Country Club do the same job: they serve as a recreational space all year long, but also as a buffer for water avalanches from the Quebrada Chacaíto stream that descends from the mountain, in case of a heavy tropical rain. ![https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489025461787651.jpg][5] Golf courses of the Caracas Country Club **3. Habitat or Supporting Services** **Habitat for Species / Maintenance of Genetic Diversity:** The **Ávila National Park** is maybe the most important ecosystem in terms of its capacity to maintain the biodiversity of the flora and fauna of the park: *more than 100 butterfly species, approximately 120 mammal species, 20 amphibians, 30 reptiles and 500 bird species (36% of Venezuela avifauna) have been documented. Nine bird species are endemic to Venezuela and three threatened bird species live in this park. In addition, more than 1,800 plant species from diverse taxonomic groups can be observed. Several of these plants are endemic to the Cordillera de la Costa mountain range with some endemic to the park itself.* >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_%C3%81vila_National_Park Specialists have also noted that the birds that live in the city (a wide range that includes several species of parrots and toucans), have established a route from the mountain to Los Caobos Park, from there to the **Botanical Garden**, then to the Paseo Los Próceres, then north to the Caracas Country Club, then east to the Parque del Este, and finally back to the mountain. The Botanical Garden of Caracas, inside the limits of the Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV), is a 70 hectares park that has searched to restore the original flora of the valley. Since Caracas was colonized by the spaniards, cultivated, and subsequently urbanized through the centuries, the question of "how did the valley look like before the arrival of the spaniards" remains partially unsolved. But scientists agree that we can say that it could look like the Botanical Garden of Caracas. A fine example of an ecological restoration of a tropical forest. ![https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489040647536486.jpg][6] The mountain forest in the Ávila National Park ![https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489041208007687.jpg][7] The Pico Oriental, the second highest peak in the Ávila National Park ![https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489035828731806.jpg][8] Jardín Botánico de Caracas, seen from the Ávila National Park **4. Cultural Services:** **Recreation and Mental and Physical Health:**: Once again I have to speak about the **Ávila National Park**. It is not the only recreational park in the city, but it is the biggest and most important one. The are many routes to enjoy this beautiful park, and you can even camp there. The most beautiful thing is that you start at 1.000 mts above the sea level with a Dry Tropical Forest vegetation, and as you go up you see how the vegetation changes to a Humid Tropical Forest, and in the upper parts (above the 2.200 meters) a Coastal Bush Subpáramo vegetation. The ridge of the Cordillera de la Costa is a beautiful place, where you can see Caracas from above to the south, and the Caribbean Sea to the north. ![https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489045842434721.jpg][9] Sabas Nieves, at 1.300 mets above the sea level, one of the shortest and most popular routes to excersice in the Ávila Mountain. ![https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489046589413293.jpg][10] La Silla de Caracas, at 2.300 meters above the sea level. ![https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/1448904831675355.jpg][11] The ridge of the Cordillera de la Costa. **Aesthetic appreciation and Sense of Place:** As I have told you before, the Ávila mountain is a very important landmark for its citizens. It creates a strong sense of belonging, and many *caraqueños* miss their mountain when they emigrate to another country. It is very common that many families in Caracas have either a painting or a picture of the mountain at home. I want to share with you some paintings, by many famous venezuelans artists, that prove the importance of this mountain. ![https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489052836398984.jpg][12] Hortalizas en San Bernardino, by Manuel Cabré (1890-1984) ![https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489055581808682.jpg][13] Painting by Pedro Ángel González (1901-1982) [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14488979881334709.jpg [2]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14488996165489539.jpg [3]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/1448900998484746.jpg [4]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489024431822494.jpg [5]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489025461787651.jpg [6]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489040647536486.jpg [7]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489041208007687.jpg [8]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489035828731806.jpg [9]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489045842434721.jpg [10]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489046589413293.jpg [11]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/1448904831675355.jpg [12]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489052836398984.jpg [13]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14489055581808682.jpg