The Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies ( es, Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales), also known by its acronym in Spanish, IDEAM, is a government agency of the

Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian mi ...

of Colombia. It is in charge of producing and managing the scientific and technical information on the

environment of Colombia Environmentally, Colombia is a mega-diverse country from its natural land terrain to its biological wildlife. Its biodiversity is a result of its geographical location and elevation. It is the fourth largest South American country and only country ...

, and its territorial composition. The IDEAM also serves as the Colombian institute of meteorology and studies the

climate of Colombia The Climate of Colombia is characterized for being tropical and isothermal as a result of its geographical location near the Equator presenting variations within five natural regions and depending on the altitude, temperature, humidity, winds a ...

. The agency is currently led by the Director General, forestry engineer Yolanda González Hernandez. González Hernández is a specialist in Geographic Information Systems with a Masters in Meteorology Sciences from the National University of Colombia, and is the first woman to lead the agency.

Creation

It was created on December 22, 1993, when

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

passed ''Law 99 of 1993'', replacing the Colombian Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology, and Land Management (''Instituto Colombiano de Hidrología, Meteorología y Adecuación de Tierras'' - HIMAT), and it officially started functioning on March 1, 1995.

Role

The IDEAM is in charge of gathering and handling specialized information about the different

ecosystems An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...

found in Colombia; it also establishes technical parameters to promote an adequate use of land use and planning The institute is charged with obtaining, analyzing, processing and divulging information pertaining to

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is call ...

, hydrogeology, meteorology, and

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

biophysical Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. Bi ...

, geomorphological aspects, and the vegetation and land area to improve the use and care of the biophysical resources or the country. The IDEAM also manages the operation and location of the meteorological and hydrological bases within the country, in order to collect information, forecasts, alerts and advice on the behavior of the climate to the population. It is in charge of monitoring the country's biophysical resources on issues related to their contamination and degradation, crucial for decisions made by environmental authorities. It also functions as the entity that fulfills the task of the Institute of Meteorology for the study of climate.

References

Environmental studies institutions in Colombia Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (Colombia) Government agencies of Colombia Governmental meteorological agencies in South America Environment of Colombia 1993 establishments in Colombia Government agencies established in 1993 Scientific organizations established in 1993 Earth sciences organizations Research institutes in Colombia {{environment-org-stub