Alexander von Humboldt
Institute for Research on Biological Resources
Colombia

• Which percentage of the earth’s land is occupied by natural forests?
  
  The most reliable information on land habitats pertain to forests that today account for approximately 31% of the planet’s land surface. It is estimated that more than half of the land’s animal and plant species are concentrated in forests (the large majority are found in the tropics) and more than two thirds of the primary net land production, in other words, the transformation of solar energy into plant material. 
  
  Source: p.32. In: Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Global Perspective on Biological Diversity 3. Montreal, 2010. 94 pages.

Key Statistics

• Colombia possesses the largest number of ecosystems represented in the same country (99), with 1,600 lakes, lagoons and wetlands. 
  
  Source: Ideam, Igac, Humboldt, Invemar, Sinchi, IIAP. 2007 Mapa nacional de ecosistemas.

• Ecosystems of Colombia compared to the world.

• In 1981, Colombia, with its 440,000 hectares of mangrove, was the 10th country in the world in terms of mangrove ecosystem (Albares–León 1993). 15 years later, mangrove area has been reduced to 378,938 hectares (Sambrano y Rubiano 1996, 1997 in Díaz–Pulido 1998). In 2003, a new evaluation showed the number was reduced to 371,081 hectares. There are 283,000 hectares on the Pacific coast and 88,000 hectares on the Caribbean coast (Sánchez-Páez et al. 2004). The loss is due to intense forest use, especially in the middle of the 20th century, as well as the exploitation of its hydrobiological resources, piangua, snail oysters and crabs (Prahl 1989).
  
  Source: Política Nacional de Biodiversidad 2009-2019 En Revisión, p. 72.

• Colombia has 27,746 hectares in certified production in the Conservation of ecosystems, Protection of wildlife and the Conservation of hydro resources, coming in third to Costa Rica and Brazil at the global level.
  
  Source: Política Nacional de Biodiversidad 2009-2019 En Revisión, p.251.

• How are the land ecosystems distributed in Colombia?

Source: Chaves, M.E. y Santamaría, M. (eds). 2006. Informe Nacional sobre el Avance en el Conocimiento y la Información de la Biodiversidad 1998-2004. Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt. Bogotá D.C. Colombia. 2 Tomos. Tomo 2, p.31.

• Half of the world’s paramos are found in Colombia. These ecosystems represent 1.7% of the national territory and supply water to 70% of the population.
  
  Source: Cartilla, Instituto Humboldt.

• Colombia is made up of 245,342 km2 of dry zones (arid, semi-arid, subhumid dry) accounting for 22% of the country. Areas affected to some degree by desertifaction covers 193,510 km2 which makes up 17% of the national territory (MAVDT-Ideam, 2003).
  
  Source: Informe Anual del Estado del Medio Ambiente y los Recursos Naturales Renovables 2008. Cap. 4: Ecosistemas, p. 114.

How are marine ecosystems distributed in Colombia?

• Colombia has 2,900 km2 of coralline area of which 1,091 have floors of high reef coverage, representing at least 0.4% of the existing reefs in the world (Spalding et al. 2001).
  
  Source: Informe Anual del Estado del Medio Ambiente y los Recursos Naturales 2008. Capítulo 4: Ecosistemas, p.162.
   
• In Colombia, the mangroves make up approximately 380,634 hectares of land surface. 292,726 Ha are found on the Pacific coast and 87,908 on the Caribbean coast.
  
  Source: Informe Anual del Estado del Medio Ambiente y los Recursos Naturales 2008. Capítulo 4: Ecosistemas, p.162.

• Extention of main coastal and marine ecosystems in Colombia: Coral reefs (2,900km2), mangroves (3,806km2), soft bottoms (889,400km2), marine grass prairies (0.432km2), and rocky coasts (962km2).
  
  Source: Chaves, M.E. y Santamaría, M. (eds). 2006. Informe Nacional sobre el Avance en el Conocimiento y la Información de la Biodiversidad 1998-2004. Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt. Bogotá D.C. Colombia. 2 Tomos.Tomo 2, p.24.

• In Colombia there are 1,090km2 of coral reef in the Caribbean and 0.5 km2 in the Pacific (Díaz-M. y Garzón-Ferreira 2006), distributed in at least 24 different reef areas (Díaz et al. 2000, cited in Rodríguez-Ramírez et al. 2006). 61 species of corals have been identified in the Caribbean and 20 in the Pacific.
  
  Source: Diaz-M. J. M. y Garzón-Ferreira J. 2006. In: Chaves, M.E. y Santamaría, M. (eds). 2006. Informe Nacional sobre el Avance en el Conocimiento y la Información de la Biodiversidad 1998-2004. Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt. Bogotá D.C. Colombia. 2 Tomos.Tomo 2, pg.24.

How are the agroecosystems distributed in Colombia?

Source: FAO country summaries. Colombia. http://www.fao.org/countries/55528/es/col/

What has the government spent on the environmental protection of forests and ecosystems?

The DANE’s environmental figures indicate that governmental funds for environmental protection of forests and ecosystems was 108,573.34 million pesos in 2005. In 2004, there was a variation of -8.8% in government funds.

Source: DANE. 2005. Grupo de cuentas ambientales. www.dane.gov.co