Press Releases

The Global Coalition ‘#UnitedforBiodiversity’ was launched in March 2020 on World Wildlife Day by EU Commissioner for Environment, Virginijus Sinkevicius. The Coalition is calling on all world botanic gardens, zoos, aquariums, research centers, national parks, science and natural history museums to raise their voices in support for nature.

At a time when science warns us that one million species are at risk of extinction within a few decades due to human activities, it is urgent to reach an ambitious agreement at the CoP 15 for biodiversity, comparable to the 2015 Paris Agreement for climate. Many countries, including the United Kingdom and EU Member States, have committed to defend the Agreement this but more are needed to have a global impact.

By signing the Coalition pledge, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales is proud to become the second official member from the United Kingdom, following the announcement by the Bristol Museum last November.

Other members and supporters of the Coalition include the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF), which represents over 66 institutions that hold over half of the world’s biological collections. Amgueddfa Cymru is a member of CETAF through a UK consortium of natural history museums, enabling collaborative working across museums for a stronger voice.

Amgueddfa Cymru declared a global climate and ecological crisis in September 2019 and takes and actively provides opportunities for people to engage with, and learn about the natural world through education, outreach and social media campaigns.

Wales’ national museum provides a platform for discussing climate and ecological crises and has supported activities to gain the public’s attention by supporting and collecting items from the Extinction Rebellion and youth climate strikes in Wales.

Using its collections, Amgueddfa Cymru has hosted special exhibitions to highlight issues concerning the environment. These include the ‘No Môr Plastics’ exhibition on pollution in our seas, and ‘Dippy About Nature’, which highlighted the harmful effects of fast fashion. Recently, Amgueddfa Cymru has been working with the Red Brigade to document and identify species, and to discover environmental changes that highlight the issue of endangered species.

Amgueddfa Cymru has a long-standing commitment to support biodiversity, holding over 3 million natural history specimens. These are used to underpin research by its own specialist taxonomists and that of other researchers through its loaning programme. For almost 40 years the organisation has undertaken biodiversity mapping, both in the benthic seabed around Wales and terrestrial settings to provide a baseline from which to identify changes.

Amgueddfa Cymru has shared its expertise outside Wales in collaborative survey work with scientists in Colombia, the Falkland Islands, Kenya, Mauritius, and Mozambique to support the conservation of their native biodiversity.

Finally, Amgueddfa Cymru has the largest collection of Welsh flora and fauna in the World. This in conjunction with its expertise in education and outreach and its multidisciplinary nature is in a unique position to tell the story to a contemporary audience.

As the Global Coalition aims at gathering 500 institutions ahead of the CoP 15, we invite all our partners from UK and beyond to join the movement on:

https://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/biodiversity/coalition/index_en.htm

#UnitedforBiodiversity #CoP15