Location of Colombia. Source: David Liuzzo/Wikipedia

Map of Colombia. (Source: CIA)

Columbia is a South American nation bounded in the northwest by the Central American nation of Panama, in the east by Venezuela, in the south by Brazil, in the southwest by Peru and Ecuador. Its northern coast fronts the Caribbean Sea and its western coast fronts the Pacific Ocean.

Its main environmental issues include deforestation; soil and water quality damage from overuse of pesticides; and air pollution, especially in Bogota, from vehicle emissions. It is susceptible to volcanic eruptions on the highlands; occasional earthquakes; and periodic drought.

Background

Colombia was one of the three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others are Ecuador and Venezuela).

A 40-year conflict between government forces and anti-government insurgent groups and illegal paramilitary groups – both heavily funded by the drug trade – escalated during the 1990s. The insurgents lack the military or popular support necessary to overthrow the government, and violence has been decreasing since about 2002, but insurgents continue attacks against civilians and large swaths of the countryside are under guerrilla influence. More than 32,000 former paramilitaries had demobilized by the end of 2006 and the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) as a formal organization had largely ceased to function. Still, some renegades continued to engage in criminal activities.

The Colombian Government has stepped up efforts to reassert government control throughout the country, and now has a presence in every one of its municipalities. However, neighboring countries worry about the violence spilling over their borders.

Its major environmental issues include: deforestation; soil and water quality damage from overuse of pesticides; air pollution, especially in Bogota, from vehicle emissions

Geography

Location: Northern South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Panama and Venezuela, and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between Ecuador and Panama

Geographic Coordinates: 4 00 N, 72 00 W

Area: 1,138,910 km² (1,038,700 km² land and 100,210 km² water). This includes the tiny islands of Isla de Malpelo in the Pacific Ocean and Roncador Cay and Serrana Bank in the Caribbean Sea.

arable land: 2.01%
permanent crops: 1.37%
other: 96.62% (2005)

Land Boundaries: total: 6,309 km - border countries: Brazil 1,644 km, Ecuador 590 km, Panama 225 km, Peru 1,800 km, Venezuela 2,050 km 

Coastline: 3,208 km (Caribbean Sea 1,760 km, North Pacific Ocean 1,448 km)

Maritime Claims: Territorial sea to 12 nautical miles; exclusive economic zone: 200 nautical miles; continental shelf: to 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation. 

Natural Hazards: Highlands are subject to volcanic eruptions; occasional earthquakes; periodic droughts.

Terrain: Flat coastal lowlands, central highlands, high Andes Mountains, eastern lowland plains. The highest point is Pico Cristobal Colon (5,775 metres). Nearby Pico Simon Bolivar also has the same elevation.

Climate: Tropical along coast and eastern plains; cooler in highlands.

Capital: Bogota

Ecology and Biodiversity

The richest and most diverse region on Earth, the Tropical Andes covers a large portion of Colombia. The Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena biodiversity hotspot extends through the Chocó region of western Colombia and spreads east around the northern extent of the Colombian western and central cordillera, through the dry forests along the Caribbean coast as far as the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, and south into the Cauca and Magdalena valleys. The Esmeraldes-Pacific Colombia mangroves extend along Colombia's Pacific coastline. The Magdalena-Santa Marta mangroves are located in northern Colombia in the Department of Magdalena encompassing the Gulfo de Urabá then east to just past the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta at the base of the Guayjira Peninsula, along the Caribbean Sea. Colombia also has numerous biologically diverse terrestrial ecoregions:

• Caqueta moist forests
• Catatumbo moist forests
• Cauca Valley dry forests
• Cauca Valley montane forests
• Cayos Miskitos-San Andrés and Providencia moist forests
• Chocó-Darién moist forests
• Cordillera Oriental montane forests
• Eastern Cordillera real montane forests
• Guayanan Highlands moist forests
• Japurá-Solimoes-Negro moist forests
• Llanos
• Magdalena-Santa Marta mangroves
• Magdalena-Urabá moist forests
• Magdalena Valley dry forests
• Magdalena Valley montane forests
• Malpelo Island xeric scrub
• Napo moist forests
• Negro-Branco moist forests
• Patía Valley dry forests
• Rio Negro campinarana
• Santa Marta montane forests
• Santa Marta páramo
• Sinú Valley dry forests
• Solimões-Japurá moist forest
• Venezuelan Andes montane forests
• Western Ecuador moist forests

Parks and Protected areas

Los Katíos National Park is located in north-west Colombia in the north of the Department of Chocó between the frontier with Panama and the west bank of the river Atrato. It is noted for it's diverse habitats and presence of flora and fauna specific to the Central and Southern American regions.

International Environmental Agreements

Colombia is party to international agreements on Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, and Wetlands.

People and Society

Population: 45,644,023 (July 2009 est.)

Age Structure:

0-14 years: 28.9% (male 6,679,701/female 6,522,976)
15-64 years: 65.4% (male 14,571,536/female 15,297,179)
65 years and over: 5.6% (male 1,103,391/female 1,469,240) (2009 est.) 

Population Growth Rate: 1.377% (2009 est.)

Birthrate: 19.86 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death Rate: 5.54 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net Migration Rate: -0.26 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Life Expectancy at Birth: 72.81 years (2009 est.) 

Total Fertility Rate: 2.46 children born/woman (2009 est.)

Language: Spanish

Literacy: 92.8%  (2004 est.)

Energy

Colombia has seen an increase in oil production in recent years following a period of steady declines. The Colombian government has implemented a partial privatization of state oil company Ecopetrol in an attempt to revive its upstream oil industry. In addition, it has enacted a series of regulatory reforms to make the sector more attractive to foreign investors. Historically, the oil sector has been targeted by attacks from insurgent groups, though the situation has improved in recent years with a substantial reduction in the number of attacks against Colombia’s energy infrastructure. While the security situation has improved, Colombia's longstanding civil conflict has taken its toll on the country's energy sector, with the country’s pipelines and power lines still experiencing occasional sabotage by insurgent groups.

In 2006, Colombia consumed 1.3 quadrillion Btus of total energy. Oil constituted the largest part of this amount, followed by hydroelectricity. Colombia is also an important producer of high quality coal. Because Colombia relies upon hydropower for the bulk of its electricity needs, it is able to export almost all of its coal production, making it one of the world’s largest coal exporters.

See Energy profile of Colombia

Conflict

International Disputes:

• In December 2007, International Court of Justice allocated the Caribbean archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina islands to Colombia against a counterclaim by Nicaragua
• Managed dispute with Venezuela over maritime boundary and Venezuelan-administered Los Monjes Islands near the Gulf of Venezuela;
• Colombian-based illegal narcotics, guerrilla, and paramilitary activities penetrate all neighboring borders and have caused Colombian citizens to flee mostly into neighboring countries;
• Colombia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Jamaica, and the US assert various claims to Bajo Nuevo and Serranilla Bank

Economy

Colombia has experienced accelerating growth between 2002 and 2007, with expansion above 7% in 2007, chiefly due to advancements in domestic security, to rising commodity prices, and to President URIBE's promarket economic policies. Colombia's sustained growth helped reduce poverty by 20% and cut unemployment by 25% since 2002. Additionally, investor friendly reforms to Colombia's hydrocarbon sector and the US-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA) negotiations have attracted record levels of foreign investment. Inequality, underemployment,and narcotrafficking remain significant challenges, and Colombia's infrastructure requires significant updating in order to sustain expansion. Economic growth slipped in 2008 as a result of the global financial crisis and weakening demand for Colombia's exports. In response, URIBE's administration has cut capital controls, arranged for emergency credit lines from multilateral institutions, and promoted investment incentives such as Colombia's modernized free trade zone mechanism, legal stability contracts, and new bilateral investment treaties and trade agreements. The government has also encouraged exporters to diversify their customer base away from the United States and Venezuela, Colombia's largest trading partners. Nevertheless, the business sector continues to be concerned about the impact of a global recession on Colombia's exports, as well as the approval of the CTPA, which is stalled in the US Congress.

GDP: (Purchasing Power Parity): $399.4 billion (2008 est.)

GDP: (Official Exchange Rate): $249.8 billion (2008 est.)

GDP-real growth rate: 3.5% (2008 est.)

GDP- per capita (PPP): $8,900 (2008 est.)

GDP- composition by sector:

agriculture: 9.4%
industry: 36.6%
services: 54% (2008 est.) 

Industries: textiles, food processing, oil, clothing and footwear, beverages, chemicals, cement; gold, coal, emeralds

Natural Resources: petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, nickel, gold, copper, emeralds, hydropower.

Currency: Colombian Peso (COP)

Further Reading

1. The CIA World Fact Book.
2. Website of the Government of the Republic of Colombia
3. EIA Energy Profile

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