Wetland Destinations in Colombia: Ramsar Areas of Colombia

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What is a Wetland?

Wetlands are low-lying areas of land where water settles, gathers, and stays at or near the surface of the soil. They are kind of an “in-between” place for water. According to NOAA, there are five general types of wetlands: marine (ocean), estuarine (estuary), riverine (river), lacustrine (lake), and palustrine (marsh). Among them we can find those that we know and name as “marshes, estuaries, mangroves, mudflats, mires, ponds, fens, swamps, deltas, coral reefs, billabongs, lagoons, shallow seas, bogs, lakes, floodplains…” It depends on soil, topography, climate, water chemistry, and vegetation. But know the difference: if water runs off, then it’s just regular old land, but if the water is too deep then it might be a pond or a lake, or the sea, although many wetlands are associated with the latter.

Benefits of Wetlands

Wetlands come with some really great benefits: they collect flood water, help stem its flow, and it slowly releases it, so it doesn’t do so much damage, providing flood and erosion control. In fact, for this very reason, people who convert wetlands for human use are now required to offset their impact with water retention systems, at least in the USA.

Wetlands are also a great nursery for wildlife. Many of the threatened and endangered species depend on wetlands for survival in the early stages of their life, or during migration in the case of birds. Wetlands also play a huge role as filters of water. Within wetlands live lots of bacteria and other microorganisms that are continually breaking down matter. In addition to organic matter, wetlands absorb oil, nitrogen, phosphorus, sewage, sediments, and other pollutants before they reach rivers, lakes, and other water bodies.

Wetlands also offer several recreational activities like boating, hiking, sport fishing, nature photography, birdwatching, contemplation, among others.

Tourism in Wetlands

Wetlands, on a global scale, have offered significant opportunities for tourism and recreation, providing economic benefits to the governments, the tourism industry, the local communities, and the wetlands conservation itself (Ramsar and UNWTO, 2012).

It is estimated that half of all international tourists travel to wetlands, especially to the coast, and many wetlands are not just holiday destinations but are also tourist attractions themselves. Thus, tourism is an important and visible value provided by wetlands.

The integration of tourism in wetland conservation can be found globally. Examples are the Camargue Wetland in France, an epicenter for birdwatching in Europe, the Nabugabo Wetland in Uganda, the London Wetland Centre in the UK, the Danube Delta in Romania, or the Esteros de Iberá in Argentina with luxury accommodations such as the Rincón del Socorro reserve, among others.

The increased demands for tourism expansion have risen the alarm on the potential negative impacts on the health of wetlands. Although tourism in wetlands offers positive opportunities, it represents many challenges as well. Avoiding the direct impact of tourists on wetland ecosystems resulting from garbage accumulation, noise pollution, excessive trampling, disturbance of wild species, amongst others, is one of them. So, the necessity of a formally addressed wetland tourism with sustainable management is of huge importance. Wetlands bear recreational values and, if conserved and managed properly, they motivate visitors and generate resources needed for the development of local communities.

Wetlands in Danger

People who drain and fill wetlands have in mind they are rescuing land for more “useful purposes” like cropland, pastures, roads, homes, businesses, waterways, canals, and reservoirs. This thinking made the wetlands decrease in more than half of their territories in the last two centuries, becoming an endangered ecosystem.

Wetlands provide directly or indirectly almost all of the world’s freshwater consumption, and currently cover more than 12.1 million square kilometers, an area larger than Greenland. But only about 13-18% of them are included in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance and are protected.

Ramsar, or the International Convention on Wetlands, is the oldest international treaty on environmental protection. It was signed in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar and came into force in 1975. It was ratified by 170 countries. Ramsar’s philosophy revolves around the concept of “wise use”, in which the conservation of wetlands, as well as their sustainable use and that of their resources, are at the heart of “wise use” for the benefit of humanity.

A Ramsar Site, or Wetland of International Importance, is a wetland area designated under the Ramsar Convention by the national government of a Member State. Currently, there are over 2,000 such sites covering over 192 million hectares: an impressive global network of wetlands that meet criteria related to their biodiversity and uniqueness.

Wetlands of Colombia

Colombia has about 31,702 wetlands, which are important as a source of fresh water, but only 13 have been declared as Ramsar sites. These are:

Map of Ramsar Places of Colombia. Orange dots represent their location. From https://rsis.ramsar.org/

According to the Bogotá Botanical Garden, it is estimated that about 87% of the Colombian population inhabits wetland areas. The relevance of wetlands, and water systems, in Colombia is so vast that there is even a book dedicated to it, Amphibian Colombia. A country of wetlands “which seeks to promote an acknowledgment and understanding of Colombia as an amphibian territory in which a great part of its geography and culture are directly associated with water”, says Humboldt Institute of Colombia.

Wetland tourism in Colombia

In Colombia, such natural areas are often taken for granted, and wetland tourism is not fully developed. We still need more projects that not only provide social and economic benefits to the communities but also support effective approaches to restore and conserve wetland ecosystems. Degradation of wetland areas is associated with their use for extraction of building materials, over-extraction of water, contamination by inappropriate waste disposal, and so on. The main threats to wetlands in Colombia are the expansion of the agricultural and livestock frontier, as well as illegal urbanization.

Ecotourism may play an important role in the conservation of these wetlands in Colombia, since by receiving an economic benefit through the provision of tourism services, local communities are motivated to care for these ecosystems. If you value wetlands make it a point to visit them and get involved in protecting them. Your visit adds economic value to these special places and helps to protect them for future generations.

In Colombia, you can visit any of the Ramsar places mentioned above. However, the most recommended places, due to their infrastructure and ease of visit, are:

  • Laguna de la Cocha (Nariño).
Laguna de la Cocha, picture by Sebastian David Martinez Canchala
  • Chingaza system (Cundinamarca).
Wetland System Chingaza National Park
  • Otún Lagoon (Risaralda).
Laguna del Otún Wetland
  • Sonso Lagoon (Valle del Cauca)

    Snail Kite – Rostrhamus sociabilis, juvenile., Gota de leche wetland, Valle del Cauca

  • Bita River Wetland Complex (Vichada)
Bita River Wetland Complex, picture by Jorge Garcia
Bogotá Wetland picture by Bogotá City Hall 

We’ll tell you more about these places in our next posts! Stay tuned!

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References

About the author

Sara Colmenares

Current director of Sula. Doctor in Biological Sciences. Her main interests are to explore and understand the organism – environment interactions, taking advantage of emerging knowledge for the management and conservation of species and ecosystem services. She is currently working as a consultant in functional ecology, ecosystem services and conservation projects in Colombia related to ecotourism and birdwatching.