City report · Valle del Cauca Department, Colombia
Cartago Air quality today
Air quality in Cartago currently reads AQI 26 (Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Air quality right now
AQI 26
Good
- PM2.5, fine particles (µg/m³)
- 4.6
- tree cover
- 29.5%
- trees in this area
- 92.7K
- more trees needed
- 1.6K
Measured across a 2 km radius around Cartago, Valle del Cauca, Colombia (12.57 km²), from a satellite image of Sep 4, 2026. Lower AQI is better: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous.
Cartago · AQI 26 (Good)
Cartago's tree count comes to 92,677 trees across 12.57 km², 1 points below the 30% tree-cover level considered healthy for this area, so roughly 1,571 more trees would close the gap.
Air quality detail
Air quality in Cartago today: AQI 26, Good
Main pollutant: PM2.5 · Observed Nov 10, 15:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 10 ground-station cities within 225 km, US EPA index. Values in µg/m³.
Estimate · model corrected with 10 station cities within 225 km, e.g. Cali and Envigado
Health signal
Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
PM2.5
4.6
PM10
4.5
NO₂
1.3
O₃
89.0
SO₂
2.4
CO
134.0
- Outdoor exercise
- A good day to be active outside
- Windows
- Open them to air the house
- Mask
- Not needed
- Air purifier
- Not needed
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Cartago's daily AQI at 31 on average, from 24 on Nov 4 to an hourly peak of 62 on Nov 9.
Where Cartago stands: the most polluted cities in the world right now · the cleanest
Tree cover detail
Tree cover in Cartago: Below target
29.5% tree cover against a 30% healthy-neighborhood target, across 12.57 km².
Trees in this area
92,677
Target trees
94,248
More trees needed
1,571
CO₂ if planted / yr
34.6 t
Deforestation · 2001–2025
How much forest has Cartago lost?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Cartago has lost about 577 hectares of forest (about 810 football pitches): 4.3% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (97%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations.
2017: satellite photo from September 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
- Forest lost since 2001
- 577 haabout 810 football pitches
- Share of its forest
- 4.3%of what there was in 2000
- Cleared for good
- 560 hadeforestation: turned into farms, mines or towns
The worst year was 2001, when about 89 hectares of forest were lost.
Hectares of forest lost each year
Show the figures as a table
| Year | Cleared for good | Can grow back | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 87 ha | 3 ha | 89 ha |
| 2002 | 13 ha | under 1 ha | 14 ha |
| 2003 | 31 ha | 2 ha | 33 ha |
| 2004 | 68 ha | under 1 ha | 69 ha |
| 2005 | 31 ha | under 1 ha | 31 ha |
| 2006 | 52 ha | 2 ha | 54 ha |
| 2007 | 32 ha | under 1 ha | 32 ha |
| 2008 | 23 ha | under 1 ha | 23 ha |
| 2009 | 18 ha | under 1 ha | 18 ha |
| 2010 | 51 ha | 2 ha | 53 ha |
| 2011 | 31 ha | 2 ha | 32 ha |
| 2012 | 50 ha | 3 ha | 53 ha |
| 2013 | 5 ha | under 1 ha | 5 ha |
| 2014 | 17 ha | under 1 ha | 17 ha |
| 2015 | under 1 ha | under 1 ha | under 1 ha |
| 2016 | 3 ha | under 1 ha | 3 ha |
| 2017 | 7 ha | under 1 ha | 7 ha |
| 2018 | 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
| 2019 | 11 ha | under 1 ha | 12 ha |
| 2020 | 8 ha | under 1 ha | 8 ha |
| 2021 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2022 | 3 ha | under 1 ha | 3 ha |
| 2023 | 2 ha | under 1 ha | 2 ha |
| 2024 | 14 ha | under 1 ha | 14 ha |
| 2025 | 1 ha | under 1 ha | 1 ha |
What is causing deforestation around Cartago?
- Farms, pasture and plantationscleared for good88% · 510 ha
- Towns and roadscleared for good8.7% · 50 ha
- Unknown causescause unknown3% · 18 ha
Causes for 2025 are estimates, based on what caused forest loss in the same places up to 2024.
Forest gained and lost, 2000–2020
- Forest in 2000
- 11,600 ha
- Forest in 2020
- 11,600 ha
- Overall change
- +9 hamore forest than in 2000
Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Cartago stayed about the same size, at about 11,600 hectares: new forest grew on about 240 hectares, and about 232 hectares were lost.
These 2000 and 2020 maps, from the University of Maryland, count any land with trees taller than 5 m as forest, including plantations and orchards. Forest that was cut or burned and had grown back by 2020 counts in both years, so the loss here is smaller than the yearly figures.
These figures cover everything within 10 km of the city center, a wider area than the report above, because forest is usually lost at a city's edges.
Source: Hansen/UMD/Google/USGS/NASA, Global Forest Change (GFC-2025-v1.13); causes: WRI/Google DeepMind drivers of forest loss; both CC BY 4.0, summed by Airleaf for each area. Forest gained and lost 2000–2020: Potapov et al. 2022, UMD GLAD Global Land Cover and Land Use Change, CC BY 4.0. Images: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data. How it's measured
In the same region
Measured cities near Cartago
Same 2 km radius, same index — so they compare directly.
- Pereira25.3 km
Colombia
- Tree cover
- 22%
- Air quality
- 72
- Armenia35.3 km
Colombia
- Tree cover
- 45%
- Air quality
- 54
- Manizales57.4 km
Colombia
- Tree cover
- 35%
- Air quality
- 68
- Tuluá79.9 km
Colombia
- Tree cover
- 18%
- Air quality
- 15
- Ibagué85.9 km
Colombia
- Tree cover
- 35%
- Air quality
- 53
- Guadalajara de Buga103.2 km
Colombia
- Tree cover
- 28%
- Air quality
- 11
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Frequently asked
Questions about Cartago
What is the air quality (AQI) in Cartago right now?
The latest reading for Cartago shows an AQI of 26 (Good), observed Nov 10, 15:00 local time via Open-Meteo / CAMS, corrected with 10 ground-station cities within 225 km, US EPA index. The main pollutant is PM2.5. Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Is it safe to exercise outside in Cartago today?
At AQI 26 (Good): a good day to be active outside. Windows: open them to air the house. Masks: not needed. The reading changes through the day, so check again before a long run or ride.
What has the air quality in Cartago been like this week?
Over the last 7 days, the CAMS air-quality model put Cartago's daily AQI at 31 on average, from 24 on Nov 4 to an hourly peak of 62 on Nov 9. No day averaged above 100, the level where the air turns unhealthy for sensitive groups.
How much forest has the area around Cartago lost since 2001?
Since 2001, the area within 10 km of Cartago has lost about 577 hectares of forest (about 810 football pitches): 4.3% of the forest it had in 2000. Most of it (97%) was deforestation, forest cleared for good, mainly for farms, pasture and plantations. Comparing satellite maps from 2000 and 2020, the forest around Cartago stayed about the same size, at about 11,600 hectares: new forest grew on about 240 hectares, and about 232 hectares were lost.
What is the tree count in Cartago?
Cartago has an estimated 92,677 trees across the 12.57 km² measured — 29.5% tree cover, 1 percentage points short of the 30% tree-cover target set for this area.
How many more trees does Cartago need?
Cartago needs roughly 1,571 more trees to close a 1-point shortfall against its 30% tree-cover target — about 34.6 t of extra CO₂ absorbed per year once grown.
How are Cartago's air quality and tree cover measured?
Air quality comes from ground monitoring stations via OpenAQ where one reports nearby, and otherwise, as here, from the Open-Meteo / CAMS model, which may differ from street-level monitors. Tree cover is measured from Sentinel-2 L2A (ESA Copernicus) via Earth Search satellite imagery at 10 m detail across a 2 km radius around Cartago; the tree count is an estimate derived from that cover.
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