Wetlands of Bogotá

Santa María del Lago

Designations
Ramsar Wetland
Official name	Complejo de Humedales Urbanos del Distrito Capital de Bogotá
Designated	6 August 2018
Reference no.	2404

Wetlands of Bogotá, Colombia, are important areas of the capital city, and their development has become increasingly important for the area north of the Andes. A reserve for fauna and flora, the wetlands provide for the preservation and reproduction of a wide variety of mammals, reptiles and birds. These include more than 95 species of migratory birds, as well as many endemic plant species. The wetlands are part of the Bogotá River basin. The wetland complex has been designated as a protected Ramsar site since 2018.

Three types of wetland ecosystems have been identified in the district, differentiated by origin and position: plain wetlands are located in urban areas, while hillside and wasteland wetlands have been identified in the capital's rural areas. Many of the wetland ecosystems are disappearing because of advanced population growth within the city of Bogota. With the passage of time and the steady growth of the city, it is estimated that of the 150,000 hectares (370,000 acres) of wetlands that covered Bogotá in 1940, only 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) remain today.

The flightless Colombian grebe, extinct in the 1980s, was restricted to the Wetlands.

Bogotá Water Company

The development plan "For the Bogotá We Want" and the Land Use Plan, Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial known by the acronym POT, has designated Empresa de Acueducto de Bogotá (EAB; Bogota Water Company) as the entity in charge of rescuing and restoring Bogota's wetland ecosystems, which are found in a wide state of deterioration.

Wetlands

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Wetlands within Bogotá

Torca River basin
Juan Amarillo River basin
Fucha River basin
Tunjuelo River basin

Wetland	Location	Altitude (m)	Area (ha)	Notes	Image
Guaymaral y Torca	Usaquén Suba	2547	73
La Conejera	Suba	2544	58.9
Córdoba	Suba	2548	40.51
Tibabuyes Juan Amarillo	Suba Engativá	2539	222.58
Jaboque	Engativá	2539	148
Santa María del Lago	Engativá	2549	12
El Burro	Kennedy	2541	18.84
La Vaca	Kennedy	2548	7.96
Techo	Techo, Kennedy	2545	11.46
Capellanía	Fontibón	2542	27.05
Meandro del Say	Fontibón Mosquera	2548	13.6
Tibanica	Bosa Soacha	2542	28.8
El Salitre	Barrios Unidos	2558	6.4
La Isla	Bosa	2550	7.7
La Florida	Funza	2542	26

See also

• Biodiversity of Colombia
• List of flora and fauna named after the Muisca
• List of flora and fauna of the Eastern Hills, Bogotá

References

Bibliography

• Andrade L., Martha Esperanza; Benitez Castañeda, Henry, Los Humedales de la Sabana de Bogotá: Área Importante para la Conservación de las Aves de Colombia y el Mundo (PDF), AICAS, pp. 1–38, retrieved 2017-03-03
• Moreno, Vanesa; García, Juan Francisco; Villalba, Juan Carlos, Descripción general de los humedales de Bogotá D.C. (PDF), Sociedad Geográfica de Colombia, pp. 1–28, retrieved 2017-03-03
• Sandoval Rincón, Diana Marcela (2013), "Protected Areas in the City, Urban Wetlands of Bogotá", Cuadernos de Vivienda y Urbanismo, 6: 80–103, retrieved 2017-03-03

External links

• (in Spanish) Fundación Humedales de Bogotá
• (in Spanish) Conozca los 15 humedales de Bogotá - El Tiempo