Colombia is listed as a megadiverse country and ranks first in the world in bird and orchid species diversity

Background

The Convention on Biological Diversity's country profile lists Colombia as one of the world's megadiverse countries, hosting close to 10% of the planet's biodiversity.
Worldwide it ranks first in bird and orchid species diversity and second in plants, butterflies, freshwater fishes and amphibians.
The profile counts 314 types of ecosystems in the country.
Colombia's large watersheds feed into the sub-continental basins the profile names as the Amazon, Orinoco, Caribbean, Magdalena-Cauca and the Pacific.
Areas of high biological diversity are found in the Andean ecosystems, followed by the Amazon rainforests and the humid ecosystems in the Chocó biogeographical area.
The profile records that 53% of the mainland is still covered with natural forests, while the dry forests are among the most threatened, reduced to around 2% of their original extension.
About 2% of the Colombian mainland is covered by moorlands, which the profile calls one of the most important ecosystems for human well-being because of the water they supply to more than three-quarters of the population in those areas.
Colombia has been a Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity since 1995-02-26, by ratification.