Latin America and the Caribbean
Supporting | Connecting | Facilitating
Botanic Gardens in Latin America & The Caribbean
Six of the world’s most biodiverse countries are within this region; Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. It is also home to the world’s most biodiverse habitat, the Amazon rainforest. The region’s biomes extend from wetlands and coastal ecosystems to deserts, tropical forests, extensive savannah grasslands and high altitude Andean habitats. The lowland forests are amongst the most species-rich on Earth, and the mountain forests and moorlands of the Andes host a wide range of endemic and narrow range species.
The region as a whole presents a rising trend in all major pressures on biodiversity: land degradation and land use change; climate change; land-based pollution; unsustainable use of natural resources and invasive alien species.
BGCI is working with partners in the region to reduce the habitat loss, protecting and maintaining plant diversity vital to human and the planetary wellbeing. Innovative and strategic initiatives, such as BGCI’s Tree Conservation Programme, are being implemented by local collaborators in different countries.
BGCI coordinates efforts to enhance regional networking and scale up technical networks by facilitating, coordinating, and supporting the consolidation and functioning of botanic garden networks. Currently there are two functioning regional networks for the Latin America and Caribbean region, the Red Sudamericana de Jardines Botánicos (RSAJB) and the Caribbean and Central American Botanic Gardens network (CCABG network).
Over the years BGCI has been assisting botanic gardens in the region, specifically through infrastructure development, technical training, practical plant conservation initiatives and public outreach support.
According to BGCI’s GardenSearch database there are 717 botanic gardens and arboreta in the region (data collected in May 2023). Many of the botanic gardens require major technical support related to botanic garden development and management. The key outcome pursued for BGCI’s Latin American and Caribbean network programme will be representative and strengthened botanic gardens networks for plant conservation, advocacy and action. The region is divided in two functioning botanic gardens’ networks:
- Red Sudamericana de Jardines Botánicos
- Caribbean and Central American Botanic Gardens network.
These networks overlap and share their members which enrich the participation, the technical capacity and policy influence. BGCI encourages all the countries in the region to be represented in these networks.
Red Sudamericana de Jardines Botánicos
The first workshop for the establishment of the Red Sudamericana de Jardines Botánicos (RSAJB) took place at the Jardín Botánico Alexander Von Humboldt in Ibagué, Colombia in December 2019. The event was attended by more than 40 participants from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guyana, México, Paraguay, Perú, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. The botanic gardens and institutions attending the meeting reiterated the need to create a network of botanic gardens in the region and the commitment to its consolidation.
The RSAJB is created in order to establish and consolidate alliances between botanic gardens in the region, promote research, support the development and management of botanic gardens, plant and habitat conservation, promote education and environmental appreciation.
The specific objectives of the network are:
- Establish standards among botanic gardens in the region,
- Generate scenarios for the exchange of experience and technical assistance,
- Facilitate and strengthen communication between botanic gardens and botanic institutions in the region,
- Guide the members towards the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity specifically the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation,
- Carry out joint conservation actions among the members of the network.
BGCI holds the secretariat for the network, for more information contact the RSAJB Network Coordinator.
Additional resources:
You can find the terms of reference for the Red Sudamericana de Jardines Botánicos here.
The associated social accounts have been created by the RSAJB with the aim of promoting and enhancing the work of the botanic gardens in the Latin American region by disseminating technical knowledge, scientific research and topics of interest to the botanic gardens’ community.
Gardens in the region: explore the map below and click on the follow on link for more information about each garden. Total number of gardens in the region 219 (August 2023).
This map has been created with the data available from BGCI’s database GardenSearch. Please, let us know if you can’t find your botanic garden in the map by Request to include your garden
Caribbean and Central American Botanic Gardens Network
BGCI promoted the establishment in 2016 of a Caribbean and Central American Botanic Gardens Network (CCABG). Other botanic gardens such as Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden, Naples Botanical Garden, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and Montgomery Botanical Center, work very closely with BGCI to reinvigorate the links between botanic gardens in the region.
The CCABG Network holds a congress every two years with the name of ‘Botanical Bridges’, so far three regional network congresses were held in Panama, Cuba and Bahamas in 2016, 2018 and 2022 respectively. These gatherings have helped to revive connections between the network members and have provided an opportunity for strategic development and capacity building through dedicated training courses such as the seed conservation techniques training delivered in Panama, or the endorsement of the Caribbean Strategy for Plant Conservation presented at the Bahamas ‘Botanical Bridges’ congress.
In 2019, Naples Botanical Garden (NBG), Florida, US and BGCI signed a partnership agreement to enhance collaborative efforts in support of the botanic garden community in the region. In 2022, NBG appointed a coordinator to assist the CCABG Network development. For more information contact CCABG Network Coordinator
Additional resources:
The ‘Caribbean Strategy for Plant Conservation’ (Coming soon)
2024 Cartagena Congress (Coming soon)
Gardens in the region: explore the map below and click on the follow on link for more information about each garden. Total number of gardens in the region 256 (December 2023).
This map has been created with the data available from BGCI’s database GardenSearch. Please, let us know if you can’t find your botanic garden in the map by Request to include your garden
Congresses & Meetings
The RSAJB meets yearly, virtually or in person, with congresses being hosted by botanic gardens in the region when face to face.
Since its establishment in 2019 the following congresses have taken place:
III Red Sudamericana de Jardines Botánicos Online Congress entitled ‘Botanic Gardens as Agents for Change’, May 2022.
Attended by 80 people with representation of most of the countries in Latin American region.
On the first day, BGCI ran a technical session with the contribution of gardens of the region. There were discussions about the role of botanic gardens as guardians of biodiversity for scientific, conservation, restoration and educational purposes under the new global challenges of climate change and loss of biodiversity. The attendees were invited to participate as members of the initiatives: Climate Change Alliance of Botanic Gardens and the International Plant Sentinel Network. The collaboration between the members of these networks can make a real difference with climate change action and alien pest and pathogens threats to safeguard plant collections, landscapes and biodiversity. On the second day, the national botanic garden representatives for each country in the South American region discussed organisational and future planning events for the network.
Minutes are available on the RSAJB Member Area (link at bottom of page).
Link to video for this session is here: III Encuentro Red Sudamericana de Jardines Botánicos (RSAJB) – 4 Mayo 2022.mp4 on Vimeo
II Red Sudamericana de Jardines Botánicos Online Congress entitled ‘The impact of COVID-19 at the South American botanic gardens’
The two-day online meeting brought together 18 people from 11 different countries. On the first day, talks were presented by the participants on the impact that COVID is having on the botanic gardens in the region. On the second day, there were working group discussions on implementation of the action plan for the RSAJB network.
For presentations and minutes go to the RSAJB Member Area (link at bottom of the page).
I Red Sudamericana de Jardines Botánicos Congress entitled ‘Red Sudamericana de Jardines Botánicos’, Botanic Garden Alexander von Humboldt, Ibagué, Colombia, 2019
BGCI in collaboration with the Universidad del Tolima and the Botanic Garden Alexander von Humboldt, Ibagué, Colombia, organized a meeting to engage with the South American botanic gardens community and promote the creation of a new botanic garden network in the region. The event was attended by more than 40 participants from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guyana, México, Paraguay, Perú, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The regional events for the network are held every two years under the name of ‘Botanical Bridges’.
2022 Botanical Bridges Congress, The Leon Levy Nature Preserve, The Bahamas.
This congress brought together nearly 50 participants from 26 institutions, representing 11 countries and territories.
Conclusions and findings to be shared soon.
2018 Botanical Bridges Congress, National Botanic Garden Havana, Cuba, entitled ‘Strengthening collaboration among botanical gardens of the Caribbean and Central America’
2016 Botanical Bridges Congress, Panamá, over 64 botanical professionals representing 18 countries from across the region attended the conference to discuss the core issues affecting botanic gardens.
Projects, News & Technical Talks
Technical Talks
To enhance botanic garden development and management capacity and to recognise and promote existing botanic gardens in the region, BGCI in collaboration with network members run virtual technical talks covering various topics that are of interest in the region.
Some of the recent talks can be accessed here:
Latest News from the Region
Across the Latin America and Caribbean regions BGCI and the region networks have undertaken, and are currently working on, many projects.
Some case studies are highlighted below.
