MapBiomas Colombia is a mapping tool that allows monitoring land use changes throughout the Amazon and tracking pressures on its forests and natural ecosystems. Each year a new set of land cover and land use maps is launched, improved, and expanded for the corresponding new period.

To date, the MapBiomas Amazon initiative has produced three collections of annual land cover and land use maps. Access the recordings of each launch. 

MAPBIOMAS COLOMBIA COLLECTION 2.0 (1985 - 2023)

Transformations in land use and land cover in the Colombian territory can provide valuable information for the evaluation of the situation of the country's water resources in terms of their quality, availability, and distribution in areas of high interest such as the high mountains, large wetlands, paramos, among others, where their primary cover is distributed in important natural cover ranging from forested and non-forested formations to imposing glaciers.

The primary vegetation that makes up these and other landscapes throughout the Colombian territory, has been affected by various changes such as: a decrease in natural vegetation of 6.4 Mha in the last 39 years, in contrast to the increase in areas of anthropogenic use that showed an increase of 6.3 Mha, most of which correspond to expansion of the agricultural frontier.

In this collection we invite you to explore the new modules of vegetation loss and secondary vegetation that will allow to deepen the analysis of non-forest forest from a treatment of pixel history data from the annual collection of land cover and land use maps of MapBiomas Colombia. In addition, the evaluation of the impacts of these dynamics on the nation's water resources is promoted.

MAPBIOMAS COLOMBIA COLLECTION 1.0 (1985 - 2022)

Despite Colombia still retaining over 70% of its natural vegetation, it is undeniable that human intervention has increased in the country. In 1985, Colombia had 77% of natural vegetation, but by 2022, this percentage has decreased to 71%, which is equivalent to a loss of 6.5 million hectares over 38 years. Of this lost territory, 5.6 million hectares have been converted into agriculture or pasture mosaics, indicating a rapid transformation of the natural environment. This situation, along with other human activities, has an impact on the proliferation of vegetation, wildlife, natural dynamics, and the acceleration of glacier retreat, which has lost 55% of its extent in the last three decades.

The first Mapbiomas Colombia collection provides an understanding of other dynamics, such as the growth of urban infrastructure in the country, which has increased by an average of 4.7 thousand hectares per year, as well as mining intervention in an area of 73 thousand hectares over these 38 years. Although these numbers may not seem significant, a more detailed regional analysis reveals the magnitude of these dynamics. For example, in the Pacific region, mining has grown by 287%, and in the Andes region, urban infrastructure has tripled compared to 1985.

Furthermore, this collection allows for the analysis of natural dynamics. For instance, it has been identified that the department with the highest presence of mangroves is in the Caribbean region (Magdalena). There has also been a decrease in herbaceous formation in the Orinoco region, with a reduction of approximately 491 million hectares. On the other hand, in the Amazon region, there has been an increase of 38.7 thousand hectares in flooded coverages during the studied period (1985-2022).

MAPBIOMAS WATER RAISG COLLECTION 2.0 (1985 - 2023)

In the second collection of MapBiomas Agua with water surface mapping for Colombia from 1985 to 2023, annual and monthly data are presented for the whole period including: (i) given in the year and accumulated in a period; (ii) frequency of occurrence; (iii) transitions (gains and losses); (iv) classification of coverage according to the type of water body.

MAPBIOMAS WATER RAISG COLLECTION 1.0 (1985 - 2022)

In this collection, the first MapBiomas Water data for the Amazonian countries are presented. This analysis is based on satellite images of the nine countries located in the Amazon basin, covering the period from 1985 to 2022. The results indicate that despite an increase in water area in 2022 for some countries, there is a trend of decreasing water area in the last decade. 

MAPBIOMAS AMAZONIA COLLECTION 6.0 (1985 - 2023)

The Amazon continues to be a deforestation hotspot, with an accumulated loss of more than 93 Mha in the last 39 years. Over almost 4 decades, anthropogenic use of the region has increased by 67%, significantly affecting forest formations, savannas, mangroves, and areas of floodable vegetation. 

This collection proposes improvements in the detection and analysis of natural areas without vegetation versus those transformed by anthropogenic activities. In addition, it promotes an integral vision of the Amazon that considers Indigenous Territories and Natural Protected Areas as fundamental actors for the conservation of this region.

MAPBIOMAS AMAZONIA COLLECTION 5.0 (1985 - 2022)

During the last 38 years various types of anthropic interventions affecting the natural cover of the Amazon have been detected and analyzed in this collection.

Through a package of diverse tools for visualization and statistical analysis of the data, a large number of highlights are recorded: from the 86 Mha of natural vegetation loss to the 50% reduction of glaciers. Mapbiomas Amazonia thus offers a comprehensive view of the transformations of this territory.

This collection seeks to strengthen the conservation initiatives of Amazonian countries, going beyond the borders of the Amazon to the totality of their national territories.

MAPBIOMAS AMAZON COLLECTION 4.0 (1985 - 2021)

The most recent data from MapBiomas Amazonía reinforce the need for integrated international action to reverse the current trend of destruction that, if it persists, will push the biome beyond its point of no return by the end of this decade.

In 1985, only 6% (about 50 million hectares) of the Amazon had been transformed into anthropogenic areas, such as pastures, crops, mining or urban areas. In 2021, this area almost tripled, reaching 15% (almost 125 million hectares) of the entire region. This was a net loss of almost 10% of its natural vegetation in just 37 years. If the current trend verified by MapBiomas Amazonia continues, the biome, which is a carbon sink of planetary importance, will reach the point of no return, irreversibly affecting its ecosystem services, and could become a savannah.

MAPBIOMAS AMAZON COLLECTION 3.0 (1985 - 2020)

Between 1985 and 2020, the Amazon lost 52% of its glaciers and 74.6 million hectares of its natural vegetation cover, an area equivalent to the territory of Chile. In the same period, there was a 656% growth in mining, 130% in urban infrastructure, and 151% in agriculture and livestock.This unprecedented mapping incorporates the entire Amazon, from the Andes, passing through the Amazon plain and reaching the transitions with the Cerrado and Pantanal

MAPBIOMAS AMAZON COLLECTION 2.0 (1985 - 2018)

Collection 2.0 provided more than 3 decades of Amazonian land cover and land-use history in annual maps from 1985 to 2018 with a resolution of 30 meters. The MapBiomas Amazon platform offers the possibility to visualize the maps at regional, national, and even local levels, identifying areas covered with forests, natural fields, mangroves, agricultural and livestock, and rivers, among other types. It is possible to understand the dynamics of land-use changes inside and outside an Indigenous Territory or a Protected Area.

A great contribution in this Second Collection is that the platform not only offers maps but also statistics presented in tables and dynamic graphs with changes in use in the period the user requires, being freely accessible and downloadable. The Second Collection of MapBiomas Amazon has been generated by technicians and specialists from each of the countries that are part of the Amazon, which allows for greater accuracy in the results.

MAPBIOMAS AMAZON COLLECTION 1.0 (2000 - 2017)

The inaugural product of MapBiomas Amazonia is the First Collection of Annual Land Cover and Land Use Maps of the Amazon (2000 - 2017), comprising annual maps of the entire Amazon region, prepared by the technical teams of each country. 

The unpublished mapping incorporates the entire Pan-Amazon region, from the Andes through the Amazon plain, and reaching the transitions with the Cerrado and Pantanal. The results obtained indicate that in the period from 2000 to 2017, despite maintaining 85% native forest cover, the region lost 29.5 million hectares (equivalent to the territory of Ecuador). On the other hand, during this same period there was a 41% growth in the area of agriculture and livestock.