Chester Zoo conservationists worked in one of the driest places on earth to save the seeds of highly threatened cacti

Chester Zoo conservationists travelled to the one of the driest places on the planet to save highly endangered cacti.

Plant conservationists have just returned to Cheshire after spending days under the blistering sun in Chile’s hyper-arid Atacama Desert, where they painstakingly harvested Copiapoa cacti seeds for preservation.

Many of these species are in real danger of extinction due to climate change, industrial and urban development projects, plant poaching and illegal off-roading. 

Several species never before included in a seed bank were identified and harvested.

Paul Bamford, regional field programme senior manager for Latin America, and Richard Hewitt, team manager for the Chester Zoo plant nursery, worked alongside Cactus Lagarto Nursery and the INIA Intihuasi Seedbank, where the seeds are now housed. 

Mr Bamford said: “We drove 13 hours to reach the desert and were up from dawn ‘til dusk each day working our way from one population of cacti to the next. The Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on earth, so it was hot and dusty, but the work was worthwhile.”

The Chester Zoo team also visited the Chilean government’s Cactus Rescue Centre, where hundreds of recovered Copiapoa cacti are housed, including those seized during a major international cactus trafficking case in 2020. 

Following a five-year operation, during which a high-profile cactus poacher from Italy was successfully prosecuted, more than 800 plants were returned to Chile. This may be the first time stolen plants were repatriated at this scale following illegal removal from their habitats. The location of the Rescue Centre cannot be shared for security reasons.

Unlike cactus poachers, seed harvesting conservationists abide by strict rules, including being careful not to take too many seeds, and have a clear rationale for their work. 

Mr Bamford said: “The idea of seed banks can feel quite apocalyptic, as they are set up for the worst-case scenario: the loss of a species from the wild. But like zoos, they are also sites that bring people together for organisation and research. This expedition doubled up as a training workshop for Chester Zoo staff and Chilean conservation organisations. Our next step will be to work with the INIA seed bank and cactus experts in Chile to draft best practice guidelines for saving seeds.”

The Chester Zoo team was involved in every step of the process, removing the seeds from wild Copiapoa using tweezers, logging location coordinates, photographing the parent plant beside bagged and labelled seed samples, and returning them to a lab to be sorted, cleaned, dried and frozen. 

Copiapoa seeds do not travel far from the parent plants, and the cacti grow very slowly. This means individual species are often restricted to a small area, making them vulnerable to damage and slow to recover.

Mr Bamford said: “It was hot, dry and intensive work. Being out in the field was amazing, but we saw evidence of the dangers threatening these species. We saw illegal constructions, 4x4 tire tracks going through their habitats – it is easy for illegal drivers to destroy a whole colony – and there were gaps where poached plants were uprooted and carried away.”

Chester Zoo has housed the National Collection of Copiapoa, a registered group of plants kept for conservation purposes, for over 20 years, and educates visitors about threats to cacti through the on-site Plant Project area, which Richard Hewitt oversees.

Mr Hewitt said: “I feel it was important for me to see for myself the cacti habitats in the Atacama Desert and the challenges they face to survive.

“Having the opportunity to collect seeds of Copiapoa with other plant conservations was fantastic, as is knowing that the seeds we collected are now secured at INIA Intihuasi Seed Bank.”

The project is funded by the Korea Arboreta and Gardens Institute, via Botanic Gardens Conservation International’s Global Seed Conservation Gran. 

Fact file:

During the course of the field work, conservationists from the zoo covered more than 2,000km and collected seeds from five Critically Endangered species, eight Endangered species, five Vulnerable species and two Least Concern species.  In total, seeds were collected from more than 500 plants.

The seed harvesting is part of a wider Copiapoa Action Plan. 

The plan was published in 2025, after a conservation-planning workshop funded by Chester Zoo, the SSC Internal Grants programme and the British Cactus and Succulent Society and facilitated by the SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group – Centre for Species Survival Brazil.

As well as improving the coordination of conservation work and research in the field, the Action Plan sets out 87 actions aimed at improving the protection and resilience of wild Copiapoa populations and their habitats

The Action Plan steps are being carried out through collaboration with IUCN CSSG, researchers from Concepción University, Chilean public sector organisations including the Ministry of the Environment, the National Forestry Corporation, the Forestry Institute, and the Agricultural Research Institute’s Intihuasi seedbank, as well as the Cactus Lagarto nursery.

About the Atacama Desert: 

The Atacama Desert holds the world record for the longest dry period in an inhabited place. A town called Arica once experienced more than 14 years without rainfall. 

Many plant species in the Atacama Desert rely on sea fogs known as Camanchaca to provide them with the moisture they need to survive. The prevalence and frequency of these fogs have been disrupted by climate change.

By channelling water down their ‘ribs’, Copiapoa provide habitats for many species, including other plants, insects and reptiles.