Built with funding from WWF’s Wildlife Adaptation Innovation Fund, the WWF Greenhouse is a repository for highly threatened plant species, some of which are the last of their kind.

SANParks first began an offsite plant conservation greenhouse some 10 years ago to reduce the rate at which rare plants were disappearing in the Richtersveld but needed more space, which is where the new greenhouse comes into play.

The WWF Greenhouse will function as a gene bank for species that are sensitive to threats such as climate change, mining and overgrazing and will be home to some 800 species. All the plants in the gene bank have been propagated from plants collected in their natural habitat and carefully selected by botanical experts across the world.

The new greenhouse covers an area roughly the size of a tennis court and features a raised tunnel design and an overhead misting system, among other features to accommodate the special needs of the plants, including the iconic halfmens only found in the Richtersveld.

A trained nursery team will continue to care for the selected species in the facility according to their natural habitat requirements and they’ll send live specimens of the species to other botanical gardens for long-term safekeeping,

Scientists have already sent over 50 of the conserved species’ seeds to the Millennium Seed Bank for storage in their seed vaults. The Millenium Seed Bank, at the Kew Botanic Gardens in the UK, is an underground collection of over 2.4 billion seeds from across the world. By sending live specimens and seeds to such facilities, the continued existence of these rare and endangered plants is assured.

So far, 11 492 plants from 716 plant taxa have been safely rehomed in the new facility. This includes over 400 threatened species, four of which are now presumed extinct in the wild due to climate change and poaching.

Furthermore, over 40 of the species in the greenhouse have only recently been discovered, exemplifying the rarity of some of these plants. An additional 300 vulnerable plant species were transferred to the greenhouse shortly after project completion.

The Richtersveld is home to about 30% of all succulents found in South Africa and is, without a doubt, one of the richest localities for succulents anywhere in the world.

Nikhil Advani, Senior Director, Wildlife and Climate Resilience with WWF, who attended the opening of the new garden and greenhouse, commented: “The biggest highlight for me were the people! This includes the very dedicated staff who worked on the project, the Nama people who live here and co-manage the park, and partners from SANParks and SANBI.”