Function
The purpose of this committee is to investigate the role of SPNHC in mobilizing collections around effective means of mitigating biodiversity loss and widely broadcasting the collection community’s positive contributions in this area.
Leadership and Composition
The committee consists of a chair and up to 12 committee members drawn from an inclusive and broad representation of SPNHC membership. As the need for focused or specific work arises, the committee will welcome additional members to form subcommittees. We will also engage exofficio or ad hoc members from the conservation community. The structure of our membership will remain nimble to the diverse needs of our community.
Duties
Motivated to respond to the 2019 IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, this committee will consider how SPNHC — as a professional society, and through actions of members — can respond to the biodiversity crisis. Our approach will examine this from numerous perspectives including scientific, policy, and public awareness. We will propose strategies to leverage existing strengths and resources, e.g., highlight efforts of the collections community and the biodiversity conservation value of the collections themselves, and will also identify innovative actions that can be taken to address the biodiversity crisis.
Short Term:
Our first course of action is to get a better understanding of how the community is currently involved with studying or mitigating the biodiversity crisis and their views on how SPNHC, as a society, could be involved. This will be accomplished in three phases: 1) survey on the above topics distributed to SPNHC members and biodiversity scientists via listservs, 2) Town Hall-style meeting at the SPNHC & ICOM NATHIST 2020 conference where we will engage attendees in discussion on the topic and share survey results, and 3) write up our findings from the survey and Town Hall discussions in a brief document that will be distributed to SPNHC members and relevant listservs. From this three-phase approach, we will also determine committee goals and future activities.
Medium Term:
Based on our findings of the Short-Term activities above, we will proceed with further work that may include forming subcommittees to address particular actions, engaging with individuals with certain expertise (e.g., policy, marketing) that could help advance our goals, and/or identifying and advancing work at a society level.
Calendar Items
February 2020: Broadly distribute the survey
February: Submit report for Spring Newsletter
May or June: Present report on findings at annual meeting
June 2020: Share survey results, convene Town Hall meeting at the annual conference
August: Submit report for Fall Newsletter
October 2020: Share report on the current state of collection community involvement in, and perspectives on, the biodiversity crisis.
Revised by Linda S. Ford and Laura Abraczinskas, May 2020
Submitted by Libby Ellwood, March 2020