One of the largest cities in the south of Colombia remains cut-off from the rest of the country after a landslide destroyed a large section of the PanAmerican Highway.
Yellow alert declared for Bogotá as Amazon fires grow thecitypaperbogota.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thecitypaperbogota.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Photo: Bomberos de Bogotá
Members of the Bogotá Fire Department are attempting to control three wildfires blazing out of control near the departmental border of Cundinamarca and Meta. The fires are located in a sector of the Sumpaz mountain range known as San Luis Cubarral and have consumed since Thursday 30-square kilometers of high-altitude wetland.
Bomberos de Bogotá has dispatched to San Luis Cubarral, 30 firefighters and helicopters with Bambi Buckets are expected to arrive on Friday. The emergency response is being coordinated with the country’s Disaster Risk Management Agency (UNGRD).
On Wednesday, Colombia’s National Parks entity (
Parque Nacionales) confirmed a wildfire within the limits of the Sumapaz National Park, close to the municipality of Guamal, Meta.
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Páramos at risk: The interconnected threats to a biodiversity hotspot
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Image Credit: The Bogotá Post
On a recent, pre-pandemic journey to the High Andes of Colombia, I
found myself surrounded by one of the regionâs emblematic species, the
flowering shrubs known locally as
frailejones or âbig monks.â These giant plants, relatives of sunflowers from the
Espeletia genus, mesmerized me, their yellow buds and silvery hairs glistening in the intense, ephemeral sunlight.
Looking out over the vast, rolling landscape, I wondered how such a stunning, incomparable ecosystem can be taken for granted.