At the start of February, the Jardín Botánico Nacional de Viña del Mar in Chile was almost completely destroyed, and four people associated with the garden sadly lost their lives, in the voracious wildfires that have devastated central-southern Chile.
Following these tragic events and devastation of the native natural areas, plant collections, greenhouses, research centre, and staff homes of one of our valued members, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) has opened a dedicated Disaster Recovery Fund to facilitate international donations directly to the garden to help them rebuild following this tragedy.
With more than 100 years of history the Jardín Botánico Nacional de Viña del Mar held significant ecological and botanical importance, serving as a refuge to more than 1,300 plant species, some of which were endangered or extinct in the wild, such as collection species from the remote Juán Fernández Islands and Sophora toromiro, native to Rapa Nui Island. The garden was one of the few repositories in the world for these collections, highlighting its global significance.
The garden not only saw tragic loss of life of some of its staff in the devastating fire, and most of the collections, but also their income in terms of visitors in the coming months as they begin reconstruction.
The Jardín Botánico Nacional de Chile is a treasure for Chileans and its recovery is crucial to understand, research and conserve plant diversity.
BGCI will work in close collaboration with the garden staff, the Red Chilena de Jardines Botánicos, and the Red Sudamericana de Jardines Botánicos to offer targeted support.
Botanic garden staff across the world are risking their health and safety to ensure that we have safe places to learn about the world around us and that we do not lose any more of the planet’s incredible plant diversity – more than one third of which is held in botanic garden collections, therefore supporting those who are dedicating their lives to this cause is an important part of BGCI’s work.
Donations can be made via the BCGI Disaster Recovery Fund page. The Jardín Botánico Nacional de Viña del Mar has also put up a donations page, which can be found here.