Serranía del Perijá Regional Natural Park (100036)
Colombia, South America

Site overview

KBA status: confirmed

Global KBA criteria: A1a, B1, B2

Year of last assessment: 2023

National site name: Parque Natural Regional Serranía del Perijá

Central coordinates: Latitude: 10.2200, Longitude: -72.9700

System: terrestrial, freshwater

Elevation (m): 2350 to 3500

Area of KBA (km²): 231.96172

Protected area coverage (%): 99.99

KBA classification: Global

Legacy site: No

Site details

Site description: The Serranía del Perijá Regional Natural Park is located in the extreme north of the eastern mountain range of Colombia. The vegetation cover is composed mainly of formations of high Andean forest, paramo and low jungles, with various local and regional endemisms (Rivera-Díaz 2007). This site together with the area around is the only area where co-ocurring several threatened plants species and of restricted range. The proposed KBA includes a region rich on natural ecosystems with an enormous biotic diversity (Rangel 2007). This site includes land belonging to the Yuco Yukpa indigenous community; indigenous and local communities should be involved in any steps to advance management of this site.

Rationale for qualifying as KBA: The Serranía del Perijá Regional Natural Park is home to several geographically restricted and threatened birds and plants that triggered some KBA criteria. This species are: for plants, Tillandsia romeroi, Bejaria nana, Espeletia perijaensis, Puya grantii and Libanothamnus divisoriensis, which all of them triggered A1a criteria; and for birds, Coeligena consita, that triggered the A1a and B2, Grallaria saltuensis that triggered only B2, and Metallura iracunda that triggered the A1a, B1 and B2 criteria. The KBA follows the limit of the protected area.

Manageability of the site: The Serranía del Perijá Regional Natural Park is managed by the Corporación Autónoma Regional del Cesar - CORPOCESAR.

Delineation rationale: Only new biodiversity was added to this KBA, so there was no change to its original boundaries.

Habitats

Land use: Land use is currently distributed as follows: Forest in 1-10%, Other in 41-50% and Grassland in 31-40%.

IUCN Habitat	Coverage %	Habitat detail
Artificial - Aquatic	47.11	Ponds [below 8 ha]
Shrubland	4.58
Other	6.19
Wetlands(Inland)	0.32	Wetlands (inland) – Shrub dominated wetlands
Forest	32.64

Threats

Threat level 1	Threat level 2	Threat level 3	Timing
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting	Unintentional effects: large scale (species being assessed is not the target) [harvest]	Ongoing
Human intrusions & disturbance	War, civil unrest & military exercises		Ongoing
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching	Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming	Ongoing
Energy production & mining	Mining & quarrying		Ongoing

Additional information

References: Corporación Autónoma Regional de La Guajira – CORPOGUAJIRA. DISTRITO DE CONSERVACIÓN DE SUELOS SERRANÍA DE PERIJÁ. PLAN DE MANEJO 2022 – 2026