About Colombia
World's largest variety of butterflies
Located on the Northwest side of South America, Colombia borders the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. The neighboring countries include Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Brazil, and Venezuela. The estimated population of Colombia is 40 million.
Colombia is the 4th largest country in South America. It is imperative to conserve its rich biological diversity. 33% of its flora and 12% of the terrestrial vertebrates are not found anywhere else on Earth.Butterfly Galore!
Colombia has a rich array of birds, orchids, reptiles, primates, marine species, and world's largest variety of butterflies. 14 of the Global 200 ecoregions - regions that have been identified by WWF as globally important and in need of immediate conservation - fall within the Colombian territory. Currently, WWF is focusing its work in 2 of these ecoregions: Northern Andean Montane Forests, and Choco-Darien Moist Forests.
Colombia has coastlines on the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Both the coasts are home to a great diversity of ecosystems- from coral reefs, coastal lagoons, and mangroves to estuaries and coastal tropical rainforests. Colombian waters are a key site for marine migratory species such as the Humpback whales which migrate each year from the Antarctic region to the Pacific ocean.
Northern South America is the convergent heartland for different ecosystems and a wide range of cultures, traditions and know-how. There are humid forests, mangrove swamps, wetlands and deltas, paramos, high Andean wetlands, cloud-forests, endless savannahs crossed by winding rivers, flood-forests, snow-peaks and inter-Andean valleys.
People of different origins – Afro-descendent, indigenous, white, mulatto and racially mixed – are dispersed throughout this rich mosaic of life, each with his own way of approaching the surrounding environment. There are animal and plant species that surprise even the experts with their number and profusion.
In the midst of this huge heartland, where South and Central America meet, is Colombia, a country with an exuberant wealth of nature. Despite the fact that it occupies only a relatively small land area, it is home for more than 10% of the world’s plant and animal biodiversity.
Approximately 1,800 species of birds have been recorded here, more butterfly species than anywhere else in the world, and enough plant numbers are found here to place it amongst the most biologically diverse nations on Earth.
Colombia's fresh water bodies are home to the largest collection of amphibians and to more than 3,200 species of freshwater fish. The Spectacled Bear, the only South American bear species, is found in the Andean forests, along with puma, tapir and jaguar. Freshwater dolphins cruise the rivers and waterways, whilst every year humpback whales and sea turtles, along with birds coming down from the North, congregate around the coast, ending one more phase in their incessant migrations.
All this natural wealth is complemented by an equally diverse and vibrant culture. Respected for their lifestyles and traditions, a huge racial mix of people live alongside each other. This includes Afro-descendent people and more than 80 indigenous groups with nearly 800,000 people, such as the Wounan, Embera, Awa, Cofán, Inga and Ticuna, amongst others. The ancestral knowledge of the natural world that these ethnic groups have guarded until now, is being respected and understood appropriately, in a world driven by industrialization.
WWF finds its friends and allies among these people. With the support of these people, WWF develops a wide range of conservation and sustainable development projects with the goal of improving the living conditions of thousands of people.
