Participants and teachers at the \”Children as Environmental Communicators: Friends of the Codazzi Peak Natural Monument\” workshop
Codazzi Peak is a Venezuelan natural monument that has great historic importance for the Tovar Colony, a neighborhood and popular tourist zone in the country. From the peak that carries his name, the geographer Augustine Codazzi foresaw an area for a German colony settlement. Today the monument is a symbol of the cultural union that exists between Germany and Venezuela.
This natural monument was created in 1991 to connect the Macarao and Henri Pittier National Parks, and to form, along with San Esteban National Park, an ecological corridor that protects the cloud forests of the Venezuelan Coastal Mountain Range, one of the most fragile and important ecosystems in the world. Four rivers–Tuy, Petaquire, Maya and Limón-originate at Codazzi Peak and supply water to various populated towns of the region, including Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.
In spite of the historic value and importance the monument has on the economic development of the region, it is currently critically threatened because of the lack of knowledge about its economic, ecological, historic, and touristic value. This is reflected in the violations of environmental regulations, which have damaging consequences for the area\’s conservation. Therefore, it is vital that the inhabitants and visitors of the Tovar Colony, as well as of the Codazzi Peak Natural Monument, know the innumerable benefits that both areas offer so that they will contribute to the preservation of this important reservoir of natural resources.
