Mission Statement
The mission of the National Herbarium of the Netherlands (NHN) is "to generate, to make accessible, and to transfer knowledge on the nature, evolution and origin of botanical diversity."
The research on the extensive herbarium collections of the NHN provides a plant systematic basis for all botanical sciences and contributes to the conservation and sustainable use of the Earth’s natural resources.
- Main tasks
The NHN mission is further defined in seven core tasks:
• To perform, coordinate and promote plant systematics research.
• To teach systematic botany at undergraduate and graduate level.
• To effectively curate and further develop its herbarium collections.
• To stimulate the transfer of botanical knowledge to society in general, and to relevant national and international organizations in particular.
• To attract national and international researchers at the PhD, postdoctoral and tenure track level to carry out high quality research at the NHN.
• To organise courses, seminars, conferences, publications, guest lectures etc. for the scientific community, general public and specific target groups.
• To strengthen the national and international position of plant systematics research and teaching.
- Buffon declaration
The NHN mission and core tasks are coherent with the Buffon Declaration as agreed in 2007 by 93 natural history institutions from 36 countries from all continents.
In this declaration three recommendations are stated:
• A call on governments and organisations to give the conservation of the vital (natural history) collections increased levels of support.
• A call on governments and the Convention on Biological Diversity:
(a) to recognize the difference between profit-oriented bioprospecting and science-oriented research for the public good, and
(b) to facilitate non-commercial biodiversity collecting and the exchange of specimens in their approaches to Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS), including through their development of policy and regulations.• An urge to give support for the dissemination of scientific perspectives, which is our duty as outreach organisations and for the teaching of evolution in schools.
