Forest Resource

Overview
Colombia is heavily forested with more than 50 percent of forest cover. The majority of forests are in the south-eastern third of Colombia, drained by the Rio Japurá and other tributaries of the Amazon River. These are mainly lowland tropical rainforests constituting the northern extension of the Amazon jungle, rising to submontane and montane forests in the Andes and Cordilleras Oriental. To the west of the Cordilleras Occidental, running to the Pacific coast and north into Panama, is a second major area of humid lowland rainforests. While the rainforests contain many commercially valuable species including mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) and cedar (Cedrela spp.), much of the forest area is inaccessible. Areas of dry tropical forest also occur in the east and in the Caribbean area. Mangroves and coconut palms grow along the Caribbean coast. Colombia´s network of protected areas comprises more than 40 national parks and reserves covering around 10 percent of the country´s land area. Eco-tourism has an important role in the future development of the natural resources. Colombia has a significant area of plantation forests made up mainly of pines, eucalyptus, and indigenous species.

Forest Types

Geographic Description
The Republic of Colombia, located in the north-western part of South America, is bounded on the north by Panama and the Caribbean Sea, on the east by Venezuela and Brazil, on the south by Peru and Ecuador and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. Its total land area is 1 138 918 km2.

Coastal lowlands lie along the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Those along the Caribbean are mostly agricultural lands. The arid, narrow Guajira Peninsula forms the northernmost tip of Columbia. The Pacific Lowlands consist mostly of swamps and dense forests. Heavy rains fall there nearly every day.

The Andes Mountains cover about a third of Colombia. They consist of three parallel ranges, the Cordillera Central, the Cordillera Oriental, and the Cordillera Occidental which stretch north-east across western Colombia. An isolated range of the Andes, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, rises from the Caribbean coast. It includes Colombia’s highest point, Pico Cristóbal Colón, 5 775 m above sea level, and several volcanoes, including Huila (5 750 m) and Tolima (5616 m). Between the cordilleras are high plateaux (some up to 2 400 above sea level) and fertile valleys.

The Cordillera Oriental descends to the east into vast areas of torrid lowlands. The Caquetá River and other tributaries of the Amazon River drain the southern portion of this region, which is covered by tropical rain forests. The northern part of the region is vast plains, or llanos, drained by the Meta and other tributaries of the Orinoco River. Other principal rivers are the Magdalena, the Cauca, and the Patía.

Elevation has a profound effect on Colombia’s climate. The low regions along the coast and in the Patía and Magdalena River valleys are torrid, with average annual temperatures of 24° to 27° C. From about 500 to 2300 m the climate is subtropical, and from about 2300 to 3000 m it is temperate. Above 3000 m a cold zone is found, where temperatures range from -18° to 13° C.

Temperatures vary little throughout the year. For instance, the January and July temperatures in Bogotá average 14° C and the averages for the same months in Barranquilla are 27° C and 28° C.

Throughout most of the country, three-month periods of rain and dry weather alternate. Along the Pacific coast precipitation is heavy, up to 8 000  mm. At Bogotá the annual rainfall averages about 1 060 mm and at Barranquilla it averages about 800 mm. Dry conditions prevail on the slopes of the Cordillera Oriental and on the Guajira peninsula.

 Forest Industry

Resources Forest cover Vegetation
Natural Woody Vegetation Description

The Republic of Colombia’s size, location and relief mean that it has a very wide range of ecological conditions and thus of vegetation types. The following outline of types of woody vegetation reflects this wealth of ecological conditions – which is also seen in the range of Holdridge’s ecological categories present (Holdridge, 1967).

Closed Forests
Broadleaved

Pure and almost pure closed forests

This classification includes edaphic formations such as mangroves and stands of Mora megistosperma, Campnosperma panamensis, Iryanthera joruensis, Carapa juianensis and Prioria copaifera). Both Campnosperma panamensis and Iryanthera joruensis are found mixed with Symphonia globulifera and Pterocarpus officinalis. These forests are confined almost exclusively to the Pacific coast and the estuaries of the main rivers.

Remaining patches of forest with an upper storey of Quercus humboldtii (“low montane moist forest” and “low montane wet forest” in Holdridge’s classification, such as that found on the Santa Rosa de Osos plateau (Espinal and Montenegro, 1963)) should also be mentioned, as well as the existence of Alnus jorullensis stands along river-banks and ravines.

Coniferous

Although certain authors mention the existence of some species of Podocarpus in the forests of the Colombian Andes (Hueck speaks of P. taxifolias and P. macrostachyus, and Espinal and Montenegro of P. oleifolius and P. montanus in “low montane wet forest” in Cundinamarca Department), there seem to be no stands of any significant size with a predominance of conifers. (The “Colombian pine” has been planted in Santander de Sur Department.)

Mixed

Closed mixed forests

These forests are the largest in the country (especially those falling into the UNESCO classification of “tropical ombrophilous lowland forest”, which accounts for over 85% of Colombia’s mixed tropical forests). They are found in two major locations – the Amazon basin and the Pacific coast from the border with Ecuador in the south (Nariño Department) to the Urabá gulf. There are also in smaller areas in the central Magdalena region (the Sinú and San Jorge river basins, Cordoba-Sucre Department and the San Lucas Mountains) and in the border region with Venezuela (Catacumbo and Zulia river basins, Motilones Mountains, and the Arauca or Cocuy area). Submontane and montane forests and “tropical ombrophilous cloud forests” are found, although covering small areas, on the western slopes of the Western Cordillera and the eastern slopes of the Eastern Cordillera. A lower type of mixed forest referred to as “fairly open forest” in the PRORADAM classification (PRORADAM, 1978) is found in the Amazon area and probably corresponds to the campinarana formations of Brazil, which are relatively closed forests lower in height that most mixed forests. A detailed description of these forests can be found in Espinal and Montenegro (1963).

Open forests
Broadleaved

The largest open forests in Colombia are found to the north of the middle Guaviaré and lower Vichaca rivers in Boyaca and Meta Departments and the Vichada region in the east of the country (the north-eastern plains) (Espinal and Montenegro, 1963; Draeger, 1974). Defined as “tall grassland with woody broad-leaved evergreen synusia” with a cover of between 10% and 40% in the UNESCO classification, this savannah belongs to the “tropical dry forest” life zone and is the result of repeated burning of the original forest, which is now found only in the wettest ravines. The rest of the plains are covered with this open forest and grass savannah without trees or shrubs.

Other wooded land
Shrubs

Scrub formations (thorn and thistle brush) are found in various zones where the climatic conditions allow only the existence of fairly xerophytic shrub species, such as the Guajira peninsula and the lower Magdalena valley and the Cesar valley in the north of the country, or protected basins in the central and southern parts of the Cordillera, for example the Chicamocha valley in Santander and the Patia valley inNariqo (“tropical dry forest” or “subtropical dry forest”, “low montane dry forest”, “tropical very dry forest”, “tropical thorn woodland”, “subtropical thorn woodland” and “tropical desert scrub” in Holdridge’s classification). These formations are listed as “drought-deciduous scrub” and “deciduous subdesertic shrubland with or without succulents” in the UNESCO classification. 

Shrub savannah is also found in the east of the country, as indicated by the PRORADAM Project (PRORADAM, 1979) under the headings “scrub savannah with gallery forest on level ground” and “on rough ground”.

References
Brucher, W. (1968) La colonización de la selva pluvial en el piedemonte Amazónia de Colombia: El territorio comprendido entre elrmo Ariari y el Ecuador. Editado por el Instituto Geográfico “Augustín Codazzi”, Bogotá.

CONIF (1976). Aspectos de la situación forestal del Pacífico, por A. Samper. Serie informativa No. 14, Bogotá.

Delgado, F. A. and Vallejo, R. D. (1977a). El potencial forestal de Colombia. CONIF, Serie Técnica No. 2, Bogotá.

Delgado, F. A. and Vallejo, R. D. (1977b). El aprovechamiento forestal en Colombia CONIF, Serie Tcnica No. 4, Bogotá.

Departamento Nacional de Planeación (1978). La reforestación en Colombia, por M. T. Motta, L. Jaramillo and O. Porras. Rev. Plan. Nacional, 83-152, Bogotá.

Draeger, W. C. (1974). Forest resource analysis in the Macarena Region, Colombia, using ERTS-1 data. A report of research to FAO, Rome.

Espinal, L. S. and Montenegro, E. (1963). Formaciones vegetales de Colombia: Memoria explicativa sobre el mapa ecológico. Instituto Geográfico “Augustín Codazzi”, Bogotá.

Holdridge, L. R. (1967). Life Zone Ecology. Centro de Ciencias Tropicales, San José.

Ortiz A. I. (1978). Análisis introductivo genral sobre el desarrollo de la colonización en Colombia. Proyecto Radargramétrico del Amazonas (PRORADAM), Bototá.

PRORADAM (1978). Aspectos forestales en la Amazonía Colombiana, por Unidad Forestal. Bogotá.

PRORADAM (1979). La Amazonia Colombiana y sus recursos. Bogotá.

Specific areas

Malpelo Island

Description of the natural woody vegetation

Malpelo Island is a tiny volcanic island (1.5 km long, 1 km wide) in the east Pacific, 430 km west of Colombia and south of Panama. The nearest oceanic island is Cocos Island, 600 km to the north-west. As described by Mueller-Dombois and Fosberg (1998), Malpelo is most remarkable for the scantiness of its vegetation cover and flora. Although tiny, the steep, rough topography is dominated by three peaks (up to 1 235 m elevation). The only vascular plants noted were a grass (Paspalum aff. laxum), an unidentified legume shrub, and a fern (Pityrogramma dealbata).

References

Mueller-Dombois, D. and F. R. Fosberg (1998). Vegetation of the tropical Pacific islands. Springer-Verlag, New York. 733 pp.