Bogotá's 5x1 Rule — Five Trees Planted for Every One Felled for Construction

Bogotá's Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente (SDA) regulates the felling of urban trees for construction and infrastructure work. Resolución SDA 3158 de 2021, announced 15 September 2021 and effective from 1 January 2022, replaced the older Resolución 7132 of 2011 and its roughly 2-for-1 replacement ratio with a stricter "5x1" formula: five trees planted — or an equivalent mix of new planting, larger-specimen planting, hardscape conversion or monetary payment — for every tree removed.

The compensation value is calculated from tree height, trunk diameter, conservation status, presence of epiphytes, and habitat value to fauna, and is weighted upward in neighbourhoods with fewer existing trees. Where physical planting is not feasible, developers may instead pay the monetary equivalent, the "Individuo Vegetal Plantado" (IVP) value. The city reports maintaining more than 200,000 plants across three municipal nurseries and 1,378 hectares identified for new planting, against a stated citywide target of 802,000 new trees.

A legal analysis from Universidad Externado's environmental programme cautions that the resolution's own hierarchy — favouring replanting over monetary compensation — has historically been bypassed by practitioners who default to the lowest-friction option when planting sites are scarce, and flags the three-year mandatory maintenance period for new trees as a potential disincentive to full compliance.

Read the full analysis: https://oab.ambientebogota.gov.co/bogota-reverdece-con-el-5x1-esta-sera-la-formula-de-compensacion-para-el-tratamiento-del-arbolado-urbano-en-las-obras-que-se-realicen-en-la-ciudad/