What are the Natural Resources of Colombia?

The Natural resources of Colombia Determine the population seat of a country located in the north of South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, Panama, Venezuela, Ecuador and the Pacific Ocean.

Its geographical coordinates are 400º N, 7200º W; With an elevation of 593 msnm, being the Peak of Christopher Columbus the highest with 5,775 msnm and the Pacific Ocean the lowest with 0 msnm (CIA, 2015).

Natural-resources-colombia

It is a country with a population of 47,220,856 people, where 60% of the population live in the north and west of the country, areas where opportunities predominate due to the vast natural resources in these areas.

Its total area is 1,138,910 km2, of which 1,038,910 km2 are land and 100,210 km2 are water.

Its territorial extension includes the Island of Malpelo, the small island of Roncador and the Serrana Bank. In turn, the maritime territory covers 12 miles and has an exclusive economic zone of 200 miles.

Its climate is tropical along the coast and eastern plains and icy in the highlands; Its territory is composed of coastal lowlands, central mountains and lowland plains of the East.

In addition, it is the only South American country with two coastal lines, in the Pacific Ocean and in the Caribbean Sea.

In 2011, 37.5% of their land was for agriculture, while 54.4% was forest and the remaining 8.1% was destined for other uses (CIA, 2015).

At present, Colombia has several international agreements to preserve its natural resources, with emphasis on desertification, endangered species, Hazardous Wastes, marine conservation, ozone protection, ship pollution, tropical timber 83, tropical timber 94, Wetlands and Les of the seas.

The main natural resources Colombia has are: oil, natural gas, coal, iron ore, nickel, gold, copper, emeralds, crops and hydraulic energy.

Crops

Colombia's main crops are coffee, cocoa and bananas. In 2014, the areas cacao harvests were 160,276 hectares and production was 47,732 tons.

In coffee, the area harvested was 795,563 hectares and the production obtained was 728,400 tons

Of banana, the area harvested was 399,653 hectares, with a production of 3,467,232 tons. (FAOStat, 2014).

Coffee was introduced in the year 1787 and began to export from 1835 (Chalarca, 1987 quoted in Bentley & Baker 2000). Since the last century it has represented an important productive activity for the country and in 2006 was the second source of net currencies (Bustillo and Enrique, 2006).

Many of the coffee crops currently employ agroforestry systems. This technique involves combining coffee production with the presence of other trees or other crops such as banana or cocoa, ensuring soil improvement and diversification of production (Arcila et al., 2007, Beer et al. 1998)..

Drugs

The Marijuana C. sativa L., which had its peak in the 70's, has been cultivated in regions of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, La Guajira and the Llanos Orientales. Currently 95% of its production is destined for domestic consumption and the rest is exported mainly to Central American countries (Florian et al., 2009).

However, since the early 1980s, coconut leaf cultivation replaced marijuana crops in the illegal drug trade.

Currently, coca cultivation accounts for 3% of GDP in the agricultural sector. In addition, Colombia is considered the main producer of cocaine Of the world, with the United States and Europe being the main consumers (UNODC, 2016).

Hydrocarbons

Colombia has the 34th place of the total crude oil tested worldwide, counting 2,445,000,000 barrels. The regions of Llanos, Valle del Magdalena and Cordillera Oriental of Colombia are among the world's largest oil-producing sedimentary basins (Mann et al., 2006, cited in Mora et al. , 2010).

The natural gas reserves tested in Colombia in 2014 amounted to a total of 4,758.51 gpc, the department with the highest utilization being La Guajira with a total production of 1,000.9 mpcd (UPME, 2016).

Mining

According to the annual statistical report on mining and mineral production statistics, in 2012, production of 85.8 million metric tons of minerals was reported for Colombia, ranking 11th in world production.

In terms of gold, 55.9 metric tons were used. Nickel production was 37.8 thousand metric tons and silver was 24 tons (Krentz, 2013).

The mining industry in Colombia has tended to grow due to foreign direct investments. In 2012, in the ranking of the ideal countries for mining investments made by the Behre Dolbear Group, Colombia ranked 7th among the most attractive countries in the world for mining investment.

Hydroelectric power

The Nare River, the longest in the country, provides 14% of national hydroelectric power production (Poveda, et al., 2013). In total, five hydroelectric plants are installed in the country: Chivor, Jaguas, Playas, San Carlos and Rio Grande.

Despite being formally established centrals, there is a constant dispute between rural settlers, who are affected by diversion of channels and floods due to poorly planned infrastructure (Duarte, et al., 2015).

Although the history of Colombia has been very hard, full of drug trafficking and terrorism, it has managed to overcome its past little by little.

Today, the country is the third emerging economy of Latin America, being an example of the effort of the Colombians to surpass themselves and as they are leaving fruits so that their standard of living is increasing.

Colombia, for its people and its natural resources, is one of the promises of America.

References

  1. Arcila P., J.; Farfán V., F.; Moreno B., A.M.; Salazar G., L.F.; Hincapié G., E. (2007). Coffee production systems in Colombia. Chinchiná, Cenicafé, 309 p.
  2. Beer J., R. Muschler, D. Kass and E. Somarriba. (1998) Shade management in coffee and cacao plantations. Agroforestry Systems 38: 139-164,
  3. Bentley J.W. and Peter S. Baker (2000). The Colombian Coffee Growers' Federation: Organized, Successful Smallholder Farmers For 70 Years. Agricultural Research & Extension Network. Network Paper No. 100.
  4. Duarte B. A., R. Boelens, and T. R. Avendaño (2015) Hydropower, Encroachment and the Re-patterning of Hydrostial Territory: The Case of Hydrosogamoso in Colombia. Human Organization: Fall 2015, Vol. 74, No. 3, pp. 243-254.
  5. Bustillo Pardey, Alex Enrique. (2006). A review of the coffee borer, Hypothenemus hampei (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), in Colombia. Revista Colombiana de Entomología, 32 (2), 101-116. Retrieved December 20, 2016.
  6. CIA (2015). The world factbook. Recovered on December 19, 2016, from CIA Website: cia.gov.
  7. FAOStat (2014). Crops. Retrieved on 20 December from FAOStat Website: fao.org.
  8. Florian R, Néstor M, Parada A, Fabián, & Garzón M, William F. (2009). Study Of Cannabinoids Content In Marihuana Samples (Cannabis sativa L.) Cultivated In Several Regions Of Colombia. Vitae, 16 (2), 237-244.
  9. Mora, A; Horton, B; 94, pp. 1543-1580. Table, A; Rubiano, J; Ketcham, R; Parra, M; White, V; Garcia, D & Stockli, D. (2010). Migration of cenozoic deformation in the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia interpreted from fission track results and structural relationships: Implications for petroleum systems. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists, vol.
  10. UPME (2016). Balance of natural gas in Colombia 2016 - 2025. Recovered on December 20, UPME Website: upme.org.
  11. Poveda, G., Mesa, O & Waylen, P. (2013). Nonlinear Forecasting of River Flows in Colombia Based Upon ENSO and Its Associated Economic Value for Hydropower Generation. Climate and water, vol.16, pp. 351-371.


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