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SCIENTISTS VITAL TO CONSERVATION IN DANGER OF EXTINCTION WARN LORDS

May 15, 2002

A House of Lords report launched today urges the UK Government to show renewed commitment to conservation when the Prime Minister leads the delegation to the World Summit in Johannesburg later this year.

Baroness Walmsley, chairman of the inquiry, said:
"The Government has committed itself to conserving UK biodiversity and helping protect endangered species throughout the world. Yet the scientists who play a vital role in conservation work are themselves in danger of extinction unless action is taken.
"Scientists' workload has increased since Rio, yet funding has decreased. As we approach 'Rio plus ten' in Johannesburg, it's time the Government matched its good intentions with better resources for systematic biologists."

THE REPORT CALLS ON THE GOVERNMENT TO:
* increase grant-in-aid funding to the science that underpins biodiversity conservation (systematic biology identifies and describes species and the links between them)
* identify priority areas of biodiversity about which conservationists need more information (in collaboration with conservationists and systematic biologists)
* set up a co-ordinating body to improve communication between relevant Government departments (DEFRA, DCMS, DfID, OST), conservationists and systematic biologists to enable priority setting
* earmark current funding to the Darwin Initiative for projects that draw on UK systematic biologists to promote conservation in countries rich in biodiversity but poor in financial resources

SYSTEMATIC BIOLOGY IN DANGEROUS DECLINE
In 1992 the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology reported that systematic biology was in dangerous decline and made recommendations, which were accepted by the Government. Today's report concludes that over the past decade the decline has actually worsened. Grant-in-aid funding to individual systematic biology institutions has reduced by between 15 and 28%.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SYSTEMATIC BIOLOGY
Systematic biologists have a vital role to play in:
* Identifying potential useful species for medicine (such as the rosy periwinkle - used to treat leukaemia)
* Helping control pests in agriculture, fish-farming and horticulture
* Monitoring environmental change

MORE USE OF WORLD-WIDE WEB
The Committee argues that the UK's invaluable collections of specimens should be made available on the world-wide web to help international scientists identify and monitor species. Extra funding is needed for this.

UNIVERSITIES
Systematic biology is declining in universities, partly because of the Research Assessment Exercise, on which funding decisions are based. The Committee recommends that Higher Education Funding Councils need to consider ways to overcome this problem and support this area of science.

ATTRACT MORE RECRUITS
Systematic biologists themselves need to raise the profile of their subject to recruit more people, both professionals and amateurs, to the field.

House of Lords

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