ACTIONS
- Protect and safeguard cultural and natural heritage
- Learning and educational opportunities
- Cultural participation/social inclusion
- Sustainable tourism
- Support research
- Employment (recruiting, training, safety)
- Energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions
- Waste management and reduction
- Transport (forms of, energy use)
- Commercial activities including copyright and IP
- Governance and management
- Security, disaster preparedness, risk reduction
- External partnerships and collaborations
SDGs
- Publication/report
- Sign-post to other resource (database)
Understanding the users and uses of UK Natural History Collections
Intended Audience
Research community, policy makers, museum workers
- H. Hardy et al, Research Ideas and Outcomes
2023
“UK natural science collections hold over 137 million items, an unrivalled source of data about 4.56 billion years of planetary development and hundreds of years of biological change, including the differences made by humans — but the scientific, commercial, and societal benefits of these collections are constrained by the limits of physical access, and by highly fragmented digitisation efforts with less than 10% digitally available. Following work with Frontier Economics in 2021, which showed potential for £2 billion in benefits to the UK economy from digitising all UK natural science collections, in 2022–23 the Natural History Museum London worked, with analytical support from McKinsey and Company, to understand the impact of what has already been digitised and shared by UK natural science collections — what is the demand for these data, what are they used for, and how does this deliver efficient, effective and impactful research?”
Avaiable in
- English
SDGs LINKAGES
The resource can support SDG targets relating to research, access to information, and sustainable and effective infrastructures, including 2.5 (preserving crop diversity), 4.7 (Education for Sustainable Development), 9.1 (sustainable infrastructure), 9.5 (support for science), 9.B (support for science in developing countries), 11.4 (strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard cultural and natural heritage), 12.8 (access to information for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature), 13.3 (climate action), 15.1 (preserving habitats), 15.5 (preventing loss of biodiversity), 15.6 (fair sharing of use of genetic resources and related knowledge), 15.8 (managing invasive species), 16.10 (access to information), 16.B (support laws and policies for sustainable development), 17.6 (international co-operation for science), 17.16 and 17.17 (international and cross-sector partnerships), and 17.19 (measures for sustainable development beyond GDP).
Click on the SDG Target to discover Our Collections Matter indicators
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Collections development related to genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants, farmed and domesticated animals (notably of local or at-risk varieties) and related wild species, for example in herbaria, museums, seed and gene banks, and seed libraries.
- Number of educational programmes related to genetic diversity of domesticated plants, animals and wild relatives.
- Number of educational programmes related to fair and equitable benefits of use of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, following international agreements (e.g. Nagoya Protocol).
- Number of educational and awareness programmes for people to ensure that they are aware of their rights and protections in terms of traditional knowledge, and exploitation of genetic resources.
- Number of research activities that help understand traditional knowledge, and genetic diversity of crop plants and animals.
- Ensure that producers of crop plants and animals are fairly compensated.
- Policies and procedures in place to ensure seed banks are soundly managed, in terms of risk management and emergency planning.
- Policies and procedures in place to ensure legal compliance with fair and equitable benefits of use of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, following international agreements (e.g. Nagoya Protocol).
- Number of partnerships at national, regional and international levels, as appropriate, to soundly manage seed and plant banks.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Numbers of people in each type of programme drawing on collections from different demographic groups.
- Increases in numbers of people in each type of programme from different demographic groups.
- Proportion of people involved in such programmes in relation to overall audience size.
- Evidence that learners have acquired knowledge and skills to promote sustainable development.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Development of research-useful collections to support reliable, sustainable and resilient use by researchers and others.
- Number and proportion of collections facilities and stores that support economic development and human well-being.
- Number and proportion of collections facilities and stores that provide affordable and equitable access for all.
- Investment in collections facilities.
- Inclusion of collections information in regional and transborder initiatives, notably via digital access for discoverability.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and proportion of collections facilities that effectively support research and researchers.
- Number and proportion of staff who are appropriately skilled to undertake and support collections-based research.
- Expenditure on initiatives to enhance and upgrade collections facilities.
- Numbers of staff engaged in supporting and developing research use based on collections.
- Number of initiatives to encourage innovation drawing on collections.
- Increase in number of research and development workers per 1 million people.
- Increase in public and private research and development spending being used to develop and make use of collections.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Total expenditure (public and private) per capita spent on the preservation, protection and conservation of all cultural and natural heritage, by type of heritage.
- Plans, policies and procedures in place for the safe use of collections for a variety of purposes, protecting and safeguarding both collections and those who use them.
- Plans, policies and procedures in place for the identification, safeguarding and protection of cultural and natural heritage at risk.
- Collecting programmes in place to protect, safeguard and make use of cultural and natural heritage, addressing the needs of communities and stakeholders, and ensuring that collections can be an effective resource for sustainable development.
- Number and diversity of educational, awareness-raising, research programmes, and partnerships that aim to strengthen protection of cultural and natural heritage.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development (including climate change education) are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment.
- Extent to which global citizenship education and education for sustainable development (including climate change education) are mainstreamed in formal, informal and non-formal education programmes and activities drawing on and related to collections.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Plans in place to enhance positive contributions to addressing climate change through use of collections. Plans in place to ensure collections, collections institutions and broader society can adapt effectively to climate change.
- Plans in place for effective education and awareness raising on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.
- Plans in place to reduce negative contributions of collections-related functions, e.g. measuring greenhouse emissions with plans and targets in place to reduce them.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Proportion of terrestrial and inland freshwater systems in a good ecological condition.
- Information on, educational programmes, collections development, research and partnerships relating to terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems drawing on collections in place.
- Policies relating to collections and their use aligned with international agreements for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and proportion of habitats, notably endangered habitats, and species with favourable conservation status, with special reference to locally, nationally and globally endangered species.
- Information on, programmes relating to, collections development, and partnerships relating to habitats and species drawing on collections in place, to support their protection and continued existence.
- Measures taken to enhance biodiversity value of green space associated with collections institutions.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Policies, plans and agreements in place for access and benefit sharing relating to use of collections, in line with the Nagoya Protocol (notably relating to natural history collections, gene banks, tissue banks, seed banks).
- Effective communication and dissemination methods in place to promote access to resources, and access to relevant policies, plans and agreements, in place.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and proportion of invasive alien species for which effective measures are in place to reduce their impact on land and water ecosystems.
- Information on, programmes relating to, collections development, and partnerships relating to invasive alien species, to support their effective management, and to prevent spread and impact.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Adopt and implement constitutional, statutory and/or policy guarantees for public access to information.
- Plans in place, and plans implemented to enhance public access to information relating to collections.
- Plans in place, and plans implemented to support fundamental freedoms, in line with human rights, national and international agreements and legislation.
- Plans and procedures in place for public access to information relating to the operation and management of collections-based institutions.
- Complaint mechanism in place for public to use where public access to information and fundamental freedoms not supported or fulfilled.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Proportion of population [audience/users/non-users] reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed in the previous 12 months on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law.
- Number and proportion of policies that incorporate sustainable development considerations, in the full sense of recognizing all three of social, economic and environmental considerations.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and/or increase in number, and diversity of global and international multi-stakeholder partnerships that share collection-related knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources to address the SDGs, or that otherwise involve collections-based organisations and institutions.
- Number and/or increase in number, and diversity of global and international multi-stakeholder partnerships involving developing countries that share collection-related knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources to address the SDGs.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Amount of United States dollars committed to public-private and civil society partnerships.
- Number and/or increase in number, and diversity of local, national and regional multi-stakeholder (public, public-private and civil society) partnerships that address the SDGs drawing on collections, or that otherwise involve collections-based organisations and institutions.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Identification and implementation of measures for sustainable development incorporating social and environmental considerations.
- Identification and implementation of both quantitative and qualitative measures of sustainable development.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Support for domestic technology development, research and innovation in developing countries, through e.g. supporting effective policies, and development of services and products, through knowledge-sharing, research and partnerships.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and diversity of North-South, South-South and triangular co-operations and projects to support access to science, technology and innovation and enhance knowledge-sharing on mutually agreed terms.