Statement of Purpose
This page is produced by the Biodiversity Crisis Response Committee as a page of resources of use to collections to showcase how they can be used to address conservation and biodiversity crisis themes as a tool to increase advocacy for collections in general. If you know of any resources that would be of use that we should add, please contact the committee.
Introduction
Our collections and research contribute directly to regional, national, and international assessments of rare and endangered species, the compilation of checklists, floras and faunas, and taxonomic, phylogenetic, evolutionary, and ecological research. Our collections form a global biodiversity baseline that is critical to tracking and predicting the effects of climate change on people and on the natural world. They are also invaluable in the mitigation of spread of disease and pandemic response. In June 2019, the Biodiversity Crisis Response Committee of SPNHC formed in response to an urgent call to action to prevent the loss of close to one million species in what is being called an international ‘biodiversity crisis’ that will change the face of the planet.
https://ipbes.net/global-assessment-report-biodiversity-ecosystem-services
Contributors
Biodiversity Crisis Response Committee
Links
On October 7, 2020, the committee held the first in a series of panel discussions with conservation experts to consider how the biological collections community can most effectively contribute to protecting biodiversity. A recording of that meeting can be found here: https://youtu.be/y2CIYI13SPI
There was also an article written in the GfBS Newsletter (39:6-9) of the German Society for Biological Systematics introducing the committee and its charge
Other links of interest:
Global Biodiversity Outlook report
Center for Biological Diversity
Biodiversity Coalition #UnitedforBiodiversity
World Wildlife Fund Living Planet Report 2020
Bremerhaven Declaration on the role of Museums in addressing climate change
Conservation Science Alliance and Species 360
References
Museums are critical infrastructure for studying urban biodiversity – Bell et al. – 2021
BioScience – Natural History Collections: Advancing the Frontiers of Science Collection of papers published in BioScience dealing with collections
Here today, gone tomorrow – Raven & Miller – 2020
Natural history collections and the future legacy of ecological research – Salvador & Cunha – 2020
Data gaps and opportunities for comparative and conservation biology – Conde, et al. 2019
Natural history collections as a basis for sound biodiversity assessments – Sampaio, et al. – 2019
Biological collections for understanding biodiversity in the Anthropocene – Meineke et al. – 2018
The unrealized potential of herbaria for global change biology – Meineke – 2018
The Value of Museum Collections for Research and Society – Suarez et al. – 2004
Natural History Museums in a Postbiodiversity Era – Winker – 2004