Caption: The inhabitants of the municipality of Lloró in the Colombian Choco refer to its climate as follows: "In summer it rains every day and in winter all day."
INTRODUCTION
The Choco Biogeographic is one of the natural wonders of the American continent, since the time of the discovery of America, the dream of naturalists, biographers and environmentalists was to visit this area and described it as one of the most striking, beautiful and diverse sites on the slope. from Pacific.
Its vast marine platform full of coral mantles, its enormous mountains riddled with wildlife, its radiant sunrises projected on a blue sky, its majestic rivers crossing the geography, its innumerable channels, wetlands and estuaries lined with exotic vegetation with mangroves and reeds, make from the peaceful and biodiverse Choco Biogeographic, a natural treasure that the international community should help conserve.
ORIGIN AND GEOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS
This territory is the product of the collision of the tectonic plates of the Andes, western, Pacific and Caribbean, which resulted in the emersion of the soils mentioned above, resulting in the disappearance of the old natural channel that communicated to the Pacific and the Atlantic at the height of the department of Chocó, and to the south of it, the Pacific plain appeared.
The Chocó Biogeographic is a neotropical natural corridor that begins its limits from north to south as follows: from the Darien province to the east of Panama, crossing all over western Colombia to the northwest of Ecuador and ending in the extreme north of Peru. And in the west to east direction, it includes from the Pacific Coast to the western mountain range, which means that this corridor crosses the Pacific coast of four countries and in some it enters valleys, slopes or even the Caribbean coast.
In Panama it runs through the northeast zone, it extends from the Panama Canal to Cabo Pasado, in the province of Manabí, a region that constitutes a mosaic of terrestrial and marine biological species.
In Colombia it crosses the northeast zone, from the coast of the Pacific Ocean to the ridges of the Cordillera Occidental. It also includes the Urabá region, a section of the Caribbean coast in northwestern Colombia and the middle valley of the Magdalena River with its tributaries Cauca-Nechí and San Jorge. In terms of political order, the departments of Chocó, Valle del Cauca, Cauca and Nariño have a presence in the biogeographical choco, and to a lesser extent Antioquia.
In Ecuador it is made up of the provinces of, Esmeraldas, Manabí, Carchi, Imbabura and Pichincha. The government of Ecuador to preserve the wealth of the biogeographical Choco has protected both state and private areas, such as: the Mache Chindul Ecological Reserve, the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, the Cayapas-Mataje Ecological Reserve, the Awá Ethnic Forest Reserve, the El Chontal Reserve, and the Los Cedros Protected Forest, among others.
EXTENSION
The biogeographic Chocó covers 187,400 km2. The terrain is a mosaic of river-marine plains, flood plains, narrow valleys, mountain escarpments, up to an altitude of ca. 4,000 m asl in Colombia and more than 5,000 m asl in Ecuador. The floodplains are young, developed and very dynamic: San Juan, Atrato, San Jorge, Cauca - Nechí and Magdalena.
Approximately 6.3% of El Chocó is protected by Ecological Reserves and National Parks. There are ongoing efforts to connect these protected areas and form a continuous conservation corridor that extends from Panama to Peru. Many organizations are also working to strengthen the protection of existing Parks and Reserves to ensure their future conservation.
RAIN REGIME
According to the level of precipitation, the zones are classified according to their levels of rainfall in levels ranging from low to high, as follows: low rainfall (730 to 3,318 mm), medium rainfall (3,318 to 5,906), moderate to high rainfall (5,906 to 8,494 mm) and high to very high rainfall (8,494 to 13,670), in this last range it would be located, the biogeographical Choco is characterized, which according to official reports registers an average of up to 12,000 mm3 per year.
Scientists attach great importance to Chocó because, in addition to possessing extraordinary biodiversity, it maintains the only continuous tropical rain forest in the South American Pacific. The Choco Department belongs to Colombia and is listed as one of the rainiest areas in the world. In this department there is a municipality called Lloró, the population where the most rain falls on the planet, the annual precipitation has been calculated at 13,300 mm3 annually, there it rains almost every day, according to records, of 365 days the year has, there it rains 270 days.
The rainfall rate in these forests is one of the highest on the planet; in fact, it maintains impressive precipitation values: in certain places it can reach up to 13,000 millimeters per year, with rains almost every day. This phenomenon is undoubtedly influenced by the warm El Niño current that causes an increase in rainfall rates between the months of January and May, generating a very high level of humidity in the region.
In the case of the Choco Department in Colombia, there is a Municipality called Lloró, it is one of the populations in the world where it rains the most, according to the records of 365 days the year it rains in 270 days. (From DNA, Wednesday September 9, 2009). Previously in the world geography atlases it was said that the rainiest place on the planet was Cherrapunji, located in the northeast of India in the Khasi mountains with a precipitation of 10,920 mm today, measurements have located the municipality of Lloro above 13,300 mm.
This enormous hydrological wealth is the origin of important rivers and basins. In Ecuador, for example, the rivers, Esmeraldas and Guayas make up two important basins. Through the Colombian Pacific, mighty rivers cross such as San Juán, Patía and Atrato, the latter located in the Department of Choco and according to its length proportionally to others of greater length, it is considered the largest river per unit of area, with a flow of almost 5,000 m3 / s and 344 million m3 / day, in a route of 720 km and a basin of 38,000 km2. The plains of the Pacific platform are furrowed by an infinity of short-flow waters and powerful currents, which die directly in the South Sea.
The trade winds and Contralisios cross through this territory. Thus, the Alisios determine the driest season, which runs from December to March and its opposite, the Contralisios represent the rainy season, which runs from April to November, except for the month of August.
These geographical and climatic conditions have allowed this territory to have one of the greenest colors on the planet. From the first trips manned by astronauts, seen the earth from the stratosphere, caused admiration, the contrast between the arid and green areas that are distinguished in the American continent. Today you can see on a computer, the intense green of the Chocó biogeographic with satellite shots observed by the Internet, which in the opinion of some, allegorically, it is a whimsical and huge chlorophyll tapestry.
The most diverse region on the planet
The biogeographic Choco, more than a territory, represents an ecosystem where the privileged conditions of sun, water, light and air, essential elements for life are permanently and exuberantly present; but also, it is a region isolated from the rest of the lowlands of South America by the Andes mountain range. This natural barrier generates a large number of endemisms in species of: plants, butterflies and birds, and perhaps the latter have the highest endemism in the world, approximately 25% of the species that live there are not found anywhere. another place on the planet.
The location of the chobiogeographic, the action of the currents and the relative proximity to other Pacific oceanic islands, make it an area of great interest for understanding the dispersal of marine species. The high rainfall, the tropical condition and its isolation (separation of the Amazon basin by the Andes Mountains) have contributed to making the Chocó biogeographic region the most diverse on the planet: 9,000 species of vascular plants, 200 of mammals, 600 of birds, 100 of reptiles 120 of amphibians.
There are interesting comparisons that demonstrate the high degree of biodiversity, for example, in studies carried out in Colombia, it has been found that in the biogeographic tropical rain forest of Chocó, in one square meter, there is more biological variety than in one square kilometer of a country. tempered.
Speciation is proverbial, according to the opinion of the forestry engineer Diomedes Londoño (personal communication, November, 2001); and Gentry (2000), every seven years a new species arises. These reasons make the Chocó biogeographic the most biodiverse area in the world, such is the case of the new amphibian species, which are constantly registered before scientists have finished describing the previous one.
Most representative species
The volcanic nature of archipelagos and certain erosive processes have created spectacular underwater landscapes, with coral formations where a large number of marine species coexist such as: white shrimp (Litopenaeus sp.), Mollusks such as piangua, crab, oyster, and the stars of sea. Fish of various sizes and colors such as: angelfish, moray eels and manta rays. Mating place of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). Huge sharks like the hammerhead and whale that can measure up to 15 meters long, and others like tollos and the devil fish. In the rivers the catfish (Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum) and the sabaleta (Brycon henni) inhabit.
It is a nesting place for seabirds, such as boobies, sea earwigs, and the tropical red-billed one, and it is visited by many species, among which stand out: the common frigate (Fregata magnificens), sulas, needle duck (Anhinga anhinga), (Anadara tuberculosa), pelican (Pelecanus occiddentalis), and the blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii).
There are a wide variety of mammals such as: the margay Tigrillo (Leopardus wtedii), jaguar (onca panther), spider monkey (Áteles fusciceps), capuchin maicero (Cebus capucinos), bump turtle (Chelydra serpentina), tulip-bellied (caiman crocodilus), armadillo nine-banded (Dasypus novemcinctus), three-toed sloth (Bradypus vaiegatus), and the tatabra or collared peccary (Tayasu tajacu).
Among the terrestrial organisms, one endemic crab and three species of saurians (two lizards and one gecko) stand out, two of them probably endemic. It has the most poisonous frogs in the world, poison dart frogs (Dendrobates sp. and Phyllobates sp,).
90% of the Chocó Biogeographic is constituted by humid forest formations, it is observed there, as the dominant cover: Mangroves, bushes, humid grasslands, wetlands and alluvial forests, humid lowland forests (tropical humid forest), montane forests, moors and forests Dried, the most productive mangrove swamp in the world (Sanquianga - Nariño) and is a territory rich in orchids.
The herbarium of the Technological University of Chocó, in twenty years of life has collected more than 11,000 species, says its director that this does not constitute 5% of the existing potential. Ferns, algae and lichens grow in this territory, and even timber trees such as oak. Mangroves swarm, trees that allow the natives to make canoes because it is a wood that does not rot. There are many mangrove species such as, the red mangrove (Rhízophora mangle), black mangrove (Avicennia germinans), native mangrove (Mora megistosperma), coconut palm (Cocus nucifera), chontaduro palm (Bactris gasipaes), thousand pesos, ñaidí (euterpe euleoracea) and the cativo (prioria copaifera).
Ethnic groups and cultural diversity
In addition to the biological wealth, the Chocobiogeographic has an important cultural diversity. Around 250 communities inhabit its territory. Some conformed by blacks and others by indigenous or mestizo.
In the same way, it is considered to be one of the most diverse in Latin America from a cultural point of view. Ethically the area is inhabited mainly by Afro-descendant communities, followed by indigenous communities and mestizo descendants of migrants from various parts of the country. In Colombia, six indigenous peoples inhabit it (Tule, Embera, Eperara Siapidara, Wounaan, Awa, Chachi).
In Ecuador, the Chocó area is the home of the Chachi people (mainly), Tsáchila, Awá and Épera, the latter two immigrants in previous decades from Colombia. There are also Afro-Ecuadorian communities that live by hunting, agriculture and fishing. For their part, the majority of mestizos settled in the Ecuadorian Chocó base their economy on agriculture.
In general, the communities are located around the hydrographic basins, as a center of development of the water culture. Within the cultural wealth, the musical wealth is of great importance since there is a syncretism of ethnic groups that has made it a way of life, expressed in the daily life of the divine and the pagan. For the ethnic groups of the biogeographical Choco, rituals are also part of the search for happiness, which have many connotations: sadness, births, cures and celebrations of various kinds, etc.
Blacks are descendants of slaves brought from Africa, their function was to work in the gold mines. The Indians, on the other hand, were entrusted with sedentary agriculture.
Since the arrival of the Spanish the Europeans also made a presence in the area, in the times of discovery and conquest they crossed the seas, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the English. Then, towards the 9th century, attracted by: the extraction of minerals such as gold and platinum, the exploitation of wood and the use of large plantations, English companies settled down, which later gave way to the North American ones.
But in addition to the Europeans, when the Ottoman empire disintegrated towards the years 1920 to 1930, they reached the Pacific coast, Asian ethnic groups among them, Lebanese, Turks and Syrians who ended up populating places in the Caribbean and Colombian Choco, as It was the case of the Chocoano municipality of Andagoya, where more than 150 Arab families arrived, not in vain, the writer Gabriel García Márquez, called this population as the Pacific Babel.
DIALECTS AND VOCABLES
For having been a place populated by inhabitants from different origins, the biogeographical choco has generated a cultural syncretism that can be seen in: the physical features of its inhabitants, the words used, the practices of multiple rituals and the varied gastronomy.
For this reason, it is common to hear words such as: The umbrella, block, dumplin, washman, gullamby, overall, waffe, mckain, etc., from English, and kippe, ojaldra, yavra, tajine, etc. from Arabic.
Indigenous languages also made their contributions, such as the yanaconas and the yalí toponym (your house), abundant Quechuisms such as Quito (Reunion of rivers), Nahualtisms such as chapúl (Grillo); of the waunam, tule and embera, it goes without saying that at least 60% of the place names in the region belong to those languages, including the now-disappeared cave, it is present with Darien, Anayansi, etc.
Bundes, currelaos and praises are heard, which are background music that accompany funeral rites such as the chigualo and the guali that originate the angel's dance and are performed by musical ensembles that have drums, cununus, guazaes, drummers, maracas, cymbals, chirimías and other sound implements.
There is an abundant gastronomic recipe that obtains its inputs from the land, the sea and the rivers. It is common to hear its inhabitants talk about: the Cucas Bandage, Dulce de Papaya Verde, Cocadas, the Jam of Borojó, Caramel of Borojó, Carrot Cake, Dessert of Birimbí, Sancocho de Mulata Walker, Empanadas de Cambray, Apastelado Rice, Indian Pie, Lemon Duck, Bocachico Salad, Catfish Casserole, Bocachico in Coconut Juice, Fish Meatball, Coconut Rice, Guarrú, and Shampoos.
In the rituals, the water festivals in which a virgin or saint of the area is venerated, the delivery and the funeral acts that in the case of adults, call it praise and when it comes to the death of a child they stand out called guali or chigualo, always accompanied by rezandera choirs.
RISKS AND THREATS
Logging of Forests and Cativals
It is estimated that in Chocó in Ecuador there are 6,000 species of vascular plants, that is, 37% of the country's flora, of which between 13 and 20% are endemic; however, its forests are being destroyed at an impressive rate. In Esmeraldas, for example, every year 10,000 to 25,000 hectares of primary forest are destroyed, that is, from 2 to 5% of the remaining forests in the province.
The massive destruction of the cativales at the hands of private logging companies puts the vital space of the communities at risk. The lack of control over logging and the awareness of those who have large monoculture areas that incessantly continue to expand the expansion of the agricultural frontier, if it continues in a few years it will be very difficult to observe the majesty of the forest.
Illegal marketing of species
The case of the spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) persecuted for its meat and fat that has apparent healing powers. Felines are one of the groups most threatened by the commercialization of their fur, such as: the tigrillos and the Panthera onca, which are sold fraudulently, inside and outside the country.
Likewise, fauna species are extracted for illegal commercialization or for the extraction of some part of their body as medicinal supplies, for the textile industry and for tanneries.
Today more than ever, the pharmacopoeia is at the service of pharmacognosy, for example: Heat-resistant salmon genes at extremely low temperatures will allow the production of cutting-edge tests such as introducing salmon genes to varieties of corn and in this way this cereal could be cultivated even in winter. This has turned science fiction into a reality not only possible but probable: but all this scientific-technical revolution has a foundation: the ancestral knowledge accumulated historically, by the peoples settled in the tropical rain forest.
Macroprojects a risk to the environment
In this geographic area, two large-scale projects persist in Colombia: the construction of the missing section of the Pan-American highway that would link North with South America, through the so-called Darien Gap. And the construction of an interoceanic canal that makes use of the Atrato River and allows the transit of larger ships (in relation to the Panama Canal (2006)) between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
The territory has abundant natural resources, such as uranium, oil, gas and coal deposits, which have allowed the proposal of several energy projects. Due to its water wealth, another energy alternative consists in the construction of hydroelectric plants, up to the use of large lakes and rivers such as San Juán and Atrato. Both seas are the subject of proposals that seek to build power plants at the expense of the ocean waves. No less important are the wind regimes, which create another potential source of energy based on wind power projects.
The dizzying extinction of species
If we calculate the extinction rate at this time, based on the numbers of species per area, taking into account the loss of tropical forests (approximately 1/3 in the last 40 years), 50,000 species per year are extinct (only 7,000 of them known). This represents 10,000 times the natural extinction rate and means 5% of the total species per decade. If these numbers are maintained, by the end of the 21st century two thirds of the species on earth will have disappeared.
Biofuel plantations
The government seeks to transform Colombia into the world's largest producer of agricultural fuels and the ministries of Agriculture and Mines and Energy are working on various projects to achieve this goal, to achieve this the authorities have given priority to the production of agricultural fuels from the sugar cane, African palm, cassava and corn and consider others related to potatoes and fig.
Since January 2005, Colombia began mixing gasoline with 10 percent fuel alcohol extracted from sugar cane, and plans to gradually increase that ratio to 25 percent in 20 years. The five percent mixture of oil gas with biodiesel, obtained from African palm, began operating since 2009 and is commercially supplied to vehicles by gasoline pumps.
Displacement And Guerrilla Drug Trafficking
In addition to environmental risks, there are other social problems that seriously affect the region, such as drug trafficking and the existence of armed guerrilla and paramilitary groups that find a hiding place in the thick jungle, and incidentally harass and mistreat the vulnerable populations that inhabit the territory, leading to the expropriation of land and forced displacement. In notorious that although it is one of the richest regions in biodiversity and should be a territory cared for and protected by government authorities, it experiences great abandonment by the state, which is reflected in the low quality of life of its inhabitants.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The biogeographic collision is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, sufficient reason for its conservation. According to what is exposed in this document, there are some risks that arise in the biogeographic territory of Chocó, such as: The cutting of forests and catival trees, illegal commercialization of species, macroprojects, although they generate progress, greatly deteriorate nature, the extinction of species, the development of biofuels, illegal groups such as drug trafficking, guerrillas and paramilitarism that become accelerators to the deterioration of the environment.
It is necessary to create mechanisms such as fines or sanctions for logging companies or plantations that without due authorization, indiscriminately cut and destroy the Chocó biogeographical jungle.
With the global warming congress held in September 2009, some of the mechanisms emanating from the Kyoto protocol were reviewed again, a meeting that was held twelve years ago, the idea is that these mechanisms can be used and benefit countries and companies that protect the environment and control companies that pollute it.
Megaprojects are opportunities, but they require introducing planning that conceives environmental engineering methods to prevent the harmful impacts of productive activities before they occur.
Its protected areas must continue to be expanded through: ecological reserves, conservation areas and national parks, in order to form a strip that crosses from Panama to Peru that guarantees their conservation, since at present a small percentage is protected.
It is very important that Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Peru gather resources to care for and protect the biogeographic Choco, concentrating efforts that aim at the fight against the destruction of nature. It is necessary to avoid the disappearance of the species that inhabit this region, penalize the commercialization of species, restrict the expansion of the agricultural frontier where it is improper, combat illicit crops, slow down the advance of illegal groups such as drug trafficking, guerrillas and paramilitarism. to mitigate the phenomenon of human displacement.
In good time, Chocó has been declared a biodiversity hotspot (hotspot), which means that these nominations become an alert for governments and environmental organizations to formulate strategies for their conservation.
Continue promoting events of a scientific, cultural, and social nature that allow analyzing the diversity of the biogeographical shock and that become integrating instances where new proposals are discussed, economic, cultural, social, and research on the biodiversity of this region.
Bibliography
Díaz, G. and MG Torres-Torres (eds.). 1998. Memories of the environmental expedition to the hydrographic basin of the Cabí river. Pacific Environmental Research Institute-Beteguma, Quibdo.
Morales Gómez, Jorge. 1990. Apparently the first to settle in the biogeographic Chocó were of the cave nationality absorbed by the tulles, misnamed Kunas, of which basically only their language is known: Cueva (Romoli, 1987).
Pareachela Aluma, Rafael. About the bicentennial: Afro-manager community of independence and republics in America.
Rangel, JO (ed.) 2004. Colombia biotic diversity IV. El Chocó Biogeographic / Pacific Coast. National university of Colombia. Bogota, DC
Ruiz Cano. 1986. In the mouths of the San Juan river to the point that it was closed by royal license, as was the Atrato, whose transit was occluded for 99 years.
Stattersfield et al. (1998) and Dinerstein et al. (1995). They highlight that there are 62 endemic species, ranking second in the world in endemism, after the Solomon Islands with 79 species.
Tobón, Leonidas. 2008. Biofuel production. Institute of Technological Development of the agricultural portfolio. Colombian Ministry of Agriculture.
Valencia Valencia, Leonidas. 2008. Traditional and popular music from the Colombian south Pacific.
