Source: National Taiwan Museum.

C.W. Cheng and Lillian Lin, ICOM-NATHIST declaration stresses need for biodiversity conservation, Focus Taiwan, 21 October 2015

Taipei, Oct. 21 (CNA) The International Committee of Museums and Collections of Natural History (ICOM-NATHIST) on Wednesday called on natural history museums to take action to conserve natural habitats and populations.

The call was made in a declaration released upon conclusion of the non-governmental organization’s 2015 conference in Taipei, which was attended by delegates from the Paris-based organization’s 30 regional and national committees Oct. 18-21. .

At the end of the four-day meeting, ICOM-NATHIST President Eric Dorfman said the Taipei declaration expressed the expectations and promises of the natural museums regarding biodiversity conservation.

“Increased human activities have created catastrophic declines in biodiversity. Both ethics and logic point to a mandate to conserve vulnerable habitats and species,” the declaration stated.

“A major role of natural history museums is to collect and steward natural history objects, generating knowledge regarding these objects and disseminating this knowledge to the community,” it said.

As host of the 2015 ICOM-NATHIST conference, the National Taiwan Museum (NTM) in Taipei is hoping that Taiwan’s museums will gain greater exposure, said NTM Director Chen Chi-ming (陳濟民).