Ecobreves – COLOMBIA: New Nature Park

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BOGOTA, Apr 4 2005 (IPS) - Environmental groups applauded the declaration of a new national nature park in the southwestern Colombian jungle of Florencia, considered the ''last stand of biodiversity'' in that area. That region holds 1,300 hectares of virgin forest, secondary forest (a reforested area), pastures and farmland.

Manuela Hernández, a biologist from the public University of the Atlantic, told Tierramérica that it is urgent to preserve the forest, which provides essential environmental services in terms of geological stability and water regulation and quality.

According to the officials who announced the park on Mar. 10, there are 110 species of amphibians and reptiles in Florencia, making it ''an area of extreme herpetological diversity, comparable only to the parks of Santa Cecilia (Ecuador) or Iquitos, Pambopata and Alto Purus (Peru).''

The Colombian natural park system, with 42 protected areas, covers nine percent of national territory.