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Launching of the Natural Science Collections Facility (NSCF), will see more than thirty million stored animal, plant and fossil specimens (from over forty museums, science councils, and also universities in South Africa), organized under a single co-ordinating hub.
The collections will be housed in a virtual facility with the central coordinating hub based at the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).
According to the DST Chief Director for Infrastructure and Basic Sciences, Dr. Daniel Adams, NSCF is one among the 13 research infrastructure facilities known as part of the South Africa Research Infrastructure Roadmap.
R50 million will be spent over the coming three years to establish the virtual facility. The natural science collections, built up over 200 years, present economic and scientific opportunities, and are used by researchers all over the world.
The facility will include maps showing priority biodiversity areas to guide development, and priority areas for conservation. The collections are important as a reference for properly identifying materials for bioprospecting and agriculture. Moreover, they can be used to track pathways for the spread of pests and diseases, and to analyze movements of animal species, which is specifically essential for sustaining biodiversity-based industries like fishing.
The NSCF will safeguard the collections through the advancement of national standards and policies, enhance access to collections by offering a single entry point to the specimens and services associated with them, and digitize images of specimen collection databases.
Source: IOL
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