Conservation of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden Cacti Collection

Project: Completed 2019
Funded by The Global Botanic Garden Fund (GBGF)
Project Partner: Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro

Brazil is one of the centers of Cactaceae diversity, 131 brazilian taxa are considered endangered by IUCN. In recent years we have achieved improvements in the collection through sponsorship. This project seeked resources to complement the maintenance of the cactus collection and increase the number of endangered species in cultivation.

Project Goals

This project had three objectives: to properly maintain a healthy cactus and succulent collection; to partially repair one of the visiting greenhouses; and to increase by 15 the number of threatened species in the cacti collection, through an exchange with a specialist in other institution.

Key Achievements

With the project, we were able to buy the materials needed to grow the plants and we managed to keep the collection in good health. We also completed the renovation of the greenhouse, with glass and paint purchased with funds from the project. And even with the pandemic and the cancellation of one of the two exchange trips proposed, we received the donation of 17 threatened species with complete provenance data from the specialist in Holambra – SP. Adding up at the end of 2020, 73 threatened species in cultivation in the collection.

The environmental devastation in Brazil has been accelerating, the number of threatened species is increasing rapidly and we need to increase the number of these species in ex situ cultivation in order to safeguard them. There is still a lot to be done, but with this project we managed to increase from 56 to 73 the endangered species in cultivation, an increase of 30%. And our efforts to obtain these plants will be useless if we cannot keep them healthy in cultivation, so the resources received were essential for this.