4 March 2021

Natural History Museum of Denmark joins the Global Coalition for Biodiversity

Collaboration

The European Commission's global cooperation to support biodiversity calls on all the world's national parks, zoos, aquariums, research centers, museums and botanical gardens to make the value and importance of all species more visible and tangible. The National Museum of Natural History is now actively entering into the collaboration.

Leptopelis vermiculatus -Tree Frog. Foto: Nikolaj Scharff, Statens Naturhistoriske Museum

The European Commission's global coalition "United for Biodiversity" was launched at World Wildlife Day 2020 ahead of the CoP 15 meeting on biodiversity in 2021. The coalition calls on all national parks, aquariums, botanical gardens, zoos, research centers and natural history museums around the world to work together to mobilize and raise awareness of the current crisis that nature is facing. This must be done through exhibitions, training programs, conservation and research efforts and sustainability initiatives.

- We are proud to participate in the growing list of international organizations which stand together to support the protection of global biodiversity. Here, the museum must contribute to spread awareness of the problems we create for nature, says Peter C. Kjærgaard, director of the Natural History Museum of Denmark, and elaborates:

- As a natural history museum, we have a special obligation in this particular area. The research in the large collections of the museum, which contain more than 14 million objects, enables us to follow the evolution of life on Earth over billions of years. We can see how both plant and animal life are affected by changes in the surrounding environment, which can ultimately help us pave the way out of the current crisis.

Sanje Falls. Foto: Steffen Brøgger-Jensen

The coalition is triggered by the great global problems of climate, environment and declining biodiversity that the world is facing, and which is triggered by a massive human impact on the balance of nature. The result is that the extinction of species is happening at an unprecedented rate, accelerated by the same processes that are causing the severe climate changes experienced on large parts of the globe.

- We must all help to make changes in our everyday lives that reduce the harmful effects of nature. We do this by implementing sustainability initiatives where possible. By adding the voice of the museum, we hope that everyone - especially at government level - will be convinced of the need for joint action, says Peter C. Kjærgaard.

Today, 80 countries and across the EU have joined the pledge to reverse the loss of biodiversity by 2030. So far, over 160 institutions around the world, including 60 natural history museums, have chosen to participate in the coalition's work to make the promises come true.

Mikumi National Park, Tanzania. Foto Nikolaj Scharff, Statens Naturhistoriske Museum