VIDEO: Grupo Hijuelas France contributes to the recovery of the Botanical Garden following the 2024 wildfires

Laurent Jouve, a scientist with Grupo Hijuelas in France and a specialist in plant biotechnology, visited the National Botanical Garden in Viña del Mar Chile, to advance collaborative efforts aimed at conserving high-value species and strengthening the Garden’s research capabilities following the 2024 wildfire.

Grupo Hijuelas continues to support the recovery of the National Botanical Garden of Viña del Mar, particularly in areas related to research, plant propagation, and the conservation of species that form part of its botanical heritage.

As part of this collaboration, Laurent Jouve, a scientist with Grupo Hijuelas in France and a specialist in plant biotechnology, visited the Garden’s facilities to learn about the progress made so far and contribute his expertise in in vitro culture to the conservation of rare, valuable, and particularly vulnerable species.

The visit forms part of the recovery process being carried out by the Botanical Garden following the 2024 wildfire, which severely affected the site and created new challenges for the protection of its biodiversity and genetic resources.

“After this tragic wildfire, I met the director and one of the Garden’s engineers, and I realized that I could contribute in some way because I work in plant biotechnology and in vitro culture. I could help them try to conserve some of the rarest and most fragile species,” Jouve explained.

For the scientist, this work goes beyond the recovery of individual species and is directly linked to the need to preserve essential resources for future generations.

“Genetic resources and biodiversity are absolutely essential for our future. These are places that need our support,” Laurent emphasized, describing the Garden as a site of global strategic importance.

Video: Laurent Jouve’s Visit to the Chilean National Botanical Garden

New Research Capabilities

Grupo Hijuelas’ contribution also includes strengthening the scientific and research capabilities of the National Botanical Garden, an area that its Executive Director, Alejandro Peirano, highlighted as an important part of this new stage.

“The Garden’s recovery has gone through different stages, and today I would say we are focusing on the details. And it is precisely in those details that Grupo Hijuelas has become strongly involved in helping and collaborating with us,” he said.

Peirano recalled that the relationship between the two institutions began earlier through contributions of plants and other forms of support, but emphasized that the collaboration is now moving into more specialized areas.

“Grupo Hijuelas had already collaborated with us by providing plants and other forms of assistance, but now we are moving into the exciting part — the more specific work,” he said.

This new stage will help strengthen the Garden’s research activities through improved infrastructure and better conditions for scientific work. In Peirano’s words, the goal is to take a capability the Garden has always had to a significantly higher level.

Science Applied to Conservation

The collaboration seeks to place expertise developed in biotechnology, plant propagation, and in vitro culture at the service of conservation, particularly for species whose genetic material needs to be protected and propagated under controlled conditions.

For Grupo Hijuelas, this work also represents a practical application of its scientific expertise and accumulated experience in plant propagation to a challenge that goes beyond production: helping to conserve biodiversity and high-value genetic resources.

This contribution from Grupo Hijuelas and Laurent Jouve brings together science, conservation, and plant propagation to protect species and help rebuild one of the world’s most important botanical heritage sites.

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