SCAPES Landscape Profile: Eastern Cordillera Real Landscape

The Eastern Cordillera Real landscape lies at the junction of the Amazon Basin, the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Spanning 90,000 square kilometers, it runs hundreds of miles from southern Colombia to Northern Peru, and includes 29 distinct ecosystems, from chilly mountain peaks and alpine lakes to steamy lowland forests. The landscape hosts more than 140 species of amphibians and 1,145 species of birds, many found nowhere else, as well as 250 species of mammals and 7,000 species of flowering plants. In addition to its natural beauty and its role in sustaining wildlife, the landscape provides drinking water, irrigation and hydroelectric power for more than one million people in rural areas and mid-sized cities.