Latin America

Latin America covers a land area of approximately 19.2 million square kilometres. According to the IUCN, it is home to 40% of our planet’s biodiversity, 25% of its forests and 26% of its freshwater.

It encompasses a vast variety of landscapes, from lush tropical forests to hyper-arid deserts, coastlines that teem with marine life, the subantarctic steppes of Patagonia, and the longest mountain chain on Earth.

These varied environments are at risk. All five of the key causes of biodiversity loss worldwide (land degradation, climate change, pollution, unsustainable use and invasive alien species) are rising across the continent.

The greatest of these challenges is habitat loss. This takes the form of both reduction and fragmentation, nearly half of which is driven by the growth of commercial agriculture for the exportation of goods like soya, livestock, fruits, vegetables and flowers. 

Coastal and marine areas are also under pressure, mainly from tourism, urbanisation, pollution and aquaculture.

Our Current Focus: 

Chester Zoo is home to Andean bears, giant anteaters, tapirs and the National Collection of Copiapoa cacti, which can be seen by visitors. 

We also have on-site breeding populations of achoque salamanders behind the scenes and have contributed to the breeding of insurance populations of goodeid fishes.

Our fieldwork mirrors these ex situ (outside the wild) conservation breeding initiatives, as we work to protect these Latin American species and their habitats in the wild.

We work in Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia and Chile, supporting local organisations in their efforts to protect a great diversity of wildlife.