Natural History Museum Vienna fully supports biodiversity: in the context of the Global Coalition for Biodiversity and the Austrian Biodiversity Strategy 2030
30. September 2020
As part of the global campaign
for biodiversity "United for #Biodiversity", considering the rapid loss of species and habitats, the Natural History Museum
Vienna supports both the network of European collection-based research institutions and the further development and implementation
of the Austrian Biodiversity Strategy 2030.
Already in May 2020, NHM Vienna announced its support
for the Global Coalition for Biodiversity, which was launched on the World Wildlife Day (March 3, 2020).
Since the museum’s foundation, the scientists of NHM Vienna have been striving to record and document biodiversity in all its facets and to understand ecological relationships. Thus, NHM Vienna annually discovers and describes a large number of species from all over the world, which is a significant contribution to the protection of biological diversity.
Through the integration into national, international and global initiatives such as GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) and Catalogue of Life, these results are incorporated into the core data for the CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity), GEO BON (Group on Earth Observations/Biodiverstiy Observation Networks) and IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services).
Especially the current pandemic with its unforeseeable consequences for society and economy shows how important holistic and sustainable approaches to initiate social transformation are in order to better counter such threats in the future. NHM Vienna makes an important contribution to this with its scientific expertise and the many points of contact with society.
"The Natural History Museum Vienna already contributes valuable data and scientific results and plays an important role in communicating the enormous diversity of the earth. We will become increasingly involved in national and European debates on biodiversity in order to enrich them scientifically. Not only in the natural sciences, but also in the humanities, since the fundamental issue is the relationship between man and nature," says NHM Vienna Director General Dr. Katrin Vohland.
As announced in a press release by CETAF (Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities) on September 28, 2020, all 37 members of CETAF - consisting of natural science museums such as NHM Vienna, botanical gardens, zoos, parks, aquariums and science centres from 22 European countries - are joining the Global Coalition for Biodiversity "United for #Biodiversity", which provides an ideal basis for joint global approaches.
CETAF members dedicate their work to study, curate, preserve and make accessible the heritage of over 1,5 billion specimens hosted in biological collections that represent nearly 80% of all described species worldwide. The resources, the expertise and the knowledge shall contribute to the Global Coalition’s efforts to raise awareness among citizens on the environmental crisis that is affecting biodiversity across the planet.
As one of these member institutions, the Natural History Museum Vienna is very active in research on biodiversity and also makes a consultative contribution to the Austrian Biodiversity Strategy 2030. NHM Vienna welcomes the fact that the Republic of Austria is developing a biodiversity strategy and intends to link it with further strategies of climate protection and sustainable development in the face of global change and supports this concern both in the field of research and in public relations.
From the perspective of the scientists at NHM Vienna, comprehensive projects are relevant for the strategic protection of biodiversity. The museum welcomes the wide range of measures, which both address the different acting sectors and stakeholders and are aimed at a variety of ecosystems.
It would also be important to support the biological societies. These are an important link between collections, research and the general public. The societies bring together scientists and people from all areas of society and make important contributions to public education and especially to taxonomic and faunistic research, e.g. in cooperation with NHM Vienna.
NHM Vienna approves attaching such great importance to knowledge transfer and citizen science in the draft strategy and proposes to strengthen dialogue and deliberative formats in order to detect the partially subliminal conflicts of values and interests and thus make them workable. One example is the debate about the wolf. At NHM Vienna, a format is being tested that will involve visitors in the opinion-forming process from December.
The multitude of measures requires accompanying research. NHM Vienna welcomes the fact that national biodiversity monitoring is to be expanded. The expected flood of new data requires a strategy to allow data flows and data accessibility according to the FAIR-data principle. This means that the data must be findable (F for Findable), accessible (A for Accessible), permitting the linking of different formats (I for Interoperable) and usable for other purposes (R for Re-useable).
As part of biodiversity monitoring, NHM Vienna proposes that the development, implementation and, above all, the effectiveness of measures taken for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity are accompanied and reviewed by interdisciplinary research. In addition to the natural science disciplines, especially biology, the social sciences and humanities should also be involved.
NHM Vienna fully supports the proposed measures on public relations and media as well as on education and awareness raising. In particular, it is recommended to focus more on possible interactions (synergies and conflicts) of biodiversity conservation with other areas of human well-being (e.g. health, security, economic growth, gender equality).
Since the museum’s foundation, the scientists of NHM Vienna have been striving to record and document biodiversity in all its facets and to understand ecological relationships. Thus, NHM Vienna annually discovers and describes a large number of species from all over the world, which is a significant contribution to the protection of biological diversity.
Through the integration into national, international and global initiatives such as GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) and Catalogue of Life, these results are incorporated into the core data for the CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity), GEO BON (Group on Earth Observations/Biodiverstiy Observation Networks) and IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services).
Especially the current pandemic with its unforeseeable consequences for society and economy shows how important holistic and sustainable approaches to initiate social transformation are in order to better counter such threats in the future. NHM Vienna makes an important contribution to this with its scientific expertise and the many points of contact with society.
"The Natural History Museum Vienna already contributes valuable data and scientific results and plays an important role in communicating the enormous diversity of the earth. We will become increasingly involved in national and European debates on biodiversity in order to enrich them scientifically. Not only in the natural sciences, but also in the humanities, since the fundamental issue is the relationship between man and nature," says NHM Vienna Director General Dr. Katrin Vohland.
As announced in a press release by CETAF (Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities) on September 28, 2020, all 37 members of CETAF - consisting of natural science museums such as NHM Vienna, botanical gardens, zoos, parks, aquariums and science centres from 22 European countries - are joining the Global Coalition for Biodiversity "United for #Biodiversity", which provides an ideal basis for joint global approaches.
CETAF members dedicate their work to study, curate, preserve and make accessible the heritage of over 1,5 billion specimens hosted in biological collections that represent nearly 80% of all described species worldwide. The resources, the expertise and the knowledge shall contribute to the Global Coalition’s efforts to raise awareness among citizens on the environmental crisis that is affecting biodiversity across the planet.
As one of these member institutions, the Natural History Museum Vienna is very active in research on biodiversity and also makes a consultative contribution to the Austrian Biodiversity Strategy 2030. NHM Vienna welcomes the fact that the Republic of Austria is developing a biodiversity strategy and intends to link it with further strategies of climate protection and sustainable development in the face of global change and supports this concern both in the field of research and in public relations.
From the perspective of the scientists at NHM Vienna, comprehensive projects are relevant for the strategic protection of biodiversity. The museum welcomes the wide range of measures, which both address the different acting sectors and stakeholders and are aimed at a variety of ecosystems.
It would also be important to support the biological societies. These are an important link between collections, research and the general public. The societies bring together scientists and people from all areas of society and make important contributions to public education and especially to taxonomic and faunistic research, e.g. in cooperation with NHM Vienna.
NHM Vienna approves attaching such great importance to knowledge transfer and citizen science in the draft strategy and proposes to strengthen dialogue and deliberative formats in order to detect the partially subliminal conflicts of values and interests and thus make them workable. One example is the debate about the wolf. At NHM Vienna, a format is being tested that will involve visitors in the opinion-forming process from December.
The multitude of measures requires accompanying research. NHM Vienna welcomes the fact that national biodiversity monitoring is to be expanded. The expected flood of new data requires a strategy to allow data flows and data accessibility according to the FAIR-data principle. This means that the data must be findable (F for Findable), accessible (A for Accessible), permitting the linking of different formats (I for Interoperable) and usable for other purposes (R for Re-useable).
As part of biodiversity monitoring, NHM Vienna proposes that the development, implementation and, above all, the effectiveness of measures taken for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity are accompanied and reviewed by interdisciplinary research. In addition to the natural science disciplines, especially biology, the social sciences and humanities should also be involved.
NHM Vienna fully supports the proposed measures on public relations and media as well as on education and awareness raising. In particular, it is recommended to focus more on possible interactions (synergies and conflicts) of biodiversity conservation with other areas of human well-being (e.g. health, security, economic growth, gender equality).
© NHM Wien
