APPENDIX 28
Memorandum submitted by the Natural History
Museum
SUMMARY
1. The Natural History Museum operates within
legal frameworks and has policies that put its opposition to illicit
trade into practice. In particular, policies on acquisition, fieldwork,
bioprospecting and on DNA-based studies confirm the need to work
within national and international law.
2. For legally acquired material, the Museum
is only able to dispose of objects from the collection within
very limited circumstances, under the provisions of the British
Museum Act 1963. This means that permanent return of items is
exceptional.
3. There are a wide range of collaborative
activities that are undertaken by the Museum and that play an
important part in making the items in the collections available
to people in their countries of origin. These activities may be
seen as constructive alternatives to return, although it is important
to say that the issue of return is not a topic of debate in the
overwhelming majority of cases. In particular, information resources,
loans of material, research and training collaboration, and scientific
visits are frequently used.
4. The Museum holds human remains for scientific
purposes. Some of these remains are likely to be the focus of
continuing interest with respect to return. The Museum is convinced
of the continuing value of scientific work in this field, but
recognises the need to work with institutions and organisations
in those countries where there is interest in return, in order
to provide information on what the Museum does, to learn from
the experience of others in this context, and to try to develop
mutually acceptable solutions in areas where there are conflicting
views.
THE NATURAL
HISTORY MUSEUM
AND ITS
COLLECTIONS
5. The Natural History Museum's collection
covers all elements of nature, having been developed continuously
since 1753 and including items from all over the world. A central
purpose of the Museum is to give access to the widest possible
range of users to information and expertise on the natural world.
Such access is given through publication, interpretation, information
technology and other media, and in innovative exhibitions that
use a selection of animals, plants, fossils and minerals.
6. For scientific users, including over
300 scientific staff in the Museum itself, the Museum provides
the constantly developing systematic collection of around 68 million
items, together with a comprehensive library of over one million
volumes. The science of the Museumsystematicsis
concerned with the discovery, description, naming and classification
of living and fossil organisms, and of rocks and minerals, also
examining the evolutionary relationships of living things.
7. The Museum's collection therefore underpins
our knowledge of the living world and the earth on which it exists,
providing a definitive physical reference resource for work on
the natural world, for purposes ranging from fundamental exploration
of the patterns of life, to highly applied oil and mineral exploration,
or contributions to the fight against malaria. The cultural and
scientific value of the collection derives from its immense variety,
its scale in time and its geographical coverage, in addition to
the immense intellectual input that has ordered and defined it.
8. The policies of the Museum for its collections
are set out in Curatorial Policies and Collections Management
Procedures 1998 (copies have been provided for the Committee).
This includes policies for care and management, conservation,
acquisitions, disposals, destructive and invasive sampling, audit,
documentation, access, loans, risk management and security.
ILLICIT TRADE:
THE MUSEUM'S
POLICIES ON
ACQUISITION
9. The Museum operates within legal frameworks
and there are various policies operated by the Museum that indicate
its opposition to illicit trade.
10. The Acquisition policy states that:
"The Natural History Museum will not acquire,
by whatever means, any object unless the Museum is satisfied it
can obtain title to the object in question, and that it has not
been acquired in, or exported from, its country of origin (or
any intermediate country in which it may have been legally owned)
in violation of that country's laws" (paragraph 5.3.4 Curatorial
Policies and Collections Management Procedures 1998).
11. Curatorial Policies and Collections
Management Procedures 1998 also includes the Museum's Code
for collecting biological and geological specimens in which it
is stated that:
"Museum scientists undertaking fieldwork
. . . will only do so in accordance with the laws and regulations
of the sovereign nation in whose territory they are working"
(Appendix 6 Curatorial Policies and Collections Management
Procedures 1998).
12. In its Bioprospecting Policy (Appendix
7 in Curatorial Policies and Collections Management Procedures
1998), the Museum states its commitment to act in accordance
with the provisions of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity
1992 relevant to bioprospecting. This commitment to the principles
of the Convention is echoed in the Museum's policy on the use
of specimens in DNA-based studies (Appendix 8, Curatorial Policies
and Management Procedures 1998). The Convention clearly asserts
the sovereign rights of States over their own biological resources.
13. The UNIDROIT and UNESCO Conventions
indicate the status of rare natural history specimens and collections
as cultural objects and accords them appropriate protection. The
Committee may also wish to consider how provisions for similar
protection have been made under the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which
was ratified by the UK in 1976. While CITES does cover trade in
non-living material, it does not cover palaeontological or mineralogical
material and is limited to listed species. Its coverage therefore
overlaps with that of the other Conventions only in certain areas.
The Museum is regularly consulted and used as a source of expertise
by those responsible for operating the regulations implementing
CITES in the UK.
OTHER RETURN
ISSUES
14. With regard to issues of return for
items that have not been acquired as a result of illicit trade,
there are important constraints on disposal that severely limit
the possibility of return by the Museum. However, there are other
collaborative avenues open that can give greater benefit to those
in the country of origin.
The Museum's Policy on Disposal
15. There are specific legal constraints
on disposal of objects from the collection, coupled with a strong
presumption by the Museum against disposal. However, there are
certain conditions under which disposal is possible.
16. The Museum's position on disposal of
objects in the collection is defined by the terms of the British
Museum Act 1963, paragraph 5, which gives precise and limited
conditions under which disposal is permitted. The Act states:
5.(1) The Trustees of the British Museum
may sell, exchange, give away or otherwise dispose of any object
vested in them and comprised in their collections if:
(a) the object is a duplicate of another
such object, or
(b) the object appears to the Trustees to
have been made not earlier than the year 1850, and substantially
consists of printed matter of which a copy made by photography
or a process akin to photography is held by the Trustees, or
(c) in the opinion of the Trustees the object
is unfit to be retained in the collections of the Museum and can
be disposed of without detriment to the interests of students:
Provided that where an object has become vested
in the Trustees by virtue of a gift or bequest the powers conferred
by this subsection shall not be exercisable as respects that object
in a manner inconsistent with any condition attached to the gift
or bequest.
(2) The Trustees may destroy or otherwise
dispose of any object vested in them and comprised in their collections
if satisfied that it has become useless for the purposes of the
Museum by reason of damage, physical deterioration, or infestation
by destructive organisms.
17. The Museum's policy on disposal adds
that
". . . Section 6 of the Museums and Galleries
Act 1992 permits the Trustees to dispose of an object, by way
of sale, gift or exchange, to the other national institutions
listed in Schedule 5 to the Act (see Appendix 10) "[of Curatorial
Policies and Collections Management Procedures 1998]".
However, there is a strong presumption against disposal of specimens,
other than by transfer as gift or in exchange to another suitable
institution (that is, not restricted to those listed in the 1992
Act), or by destructive investigation for research purposes."
(Curatorial Policies and Collections Management Procedures
1998 paragraph 5.4.1)
"Any decision to dispose of registered objects
will be taken only after due consideration. The Museum will assess
all material considered for disposal in terms of its scientific,
historical and cultural importance, the needs of both present
and future users; and legal and ethical issues as they relate
to that material." (Curatorial Policies and Collections
Management Procedures 1998 paragraph 5.4.4)
Alternatives to Disposal
18. Given the comprehensive global coverage
of the collection and of expertise, the Museum recognises its
responsibilities and the benefits in collaborating with scientists,
governments and communities all over the world in the use of the
collection. For the overwhelming majority of the collection, the
issue of disposal and permanent legal transfer of items to their
countries of origin has not been raised with the Museum on an
international level.
19. The alternatives to disposal and return
in natural history in general are numerous. Indeed, the alternatives,
for the majority of users with a scientific interest in the use
of the collection, offer particular benefits that may outweigh
return.
20. Information resources: the major
part of the value of natural history collections lies in their
potential and actual information content, which can be used in
answering both fundamental and highly applied questions about
the natural world. This information is disseminated to appropriate
audiencesindeed, the information may be developed in a
particular way to meet the specific needs of a particular audience.
Examples of information resources include:
Over 400 scientific papers in peer-reviewed
journals each year.
Development of databases to give
information on the Museum's collection.
A rapidly expanding website with
numerous specialist and popular sections, for use in combination
with a visit to the Museum, or remotely as stand-alone resources.
Information repatriationthe
Museum is active in working with institutions in a range of different
countries on developing information resources from the Museum's
collections and expertise for particular needs in biodiversity
conservation, training, or sustainable use of natural resources
(see para 21 below).
The Museum is also active in the
development of information resources for indigenous communities,
in collaboration with appropriate national agencies. A guide to
the medicinal plants of the Mbaracayu Forest Reserve in Paraguay
has been developed in the local Guarani language under a Darwin
Initiative project funded by the UK Government. Another NHM publication
on medical plants is the first book to be published in the language
of the Tawahka people of Honduras (Mayangna Panan Basni).
21. An example of collaboration on information
resources is on plant information and technology transfer for
Nepal. The Natural History Museum and Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu,
are collaborating on the repatriation of plant information and
technology for Nepal. This is supported with funding from the
UK Government's Darwin Initiative (DETR). Nepal wishes to document
the great diversity of its flora, an undertaking of fundamental
importance in conserving biological diversity and ensuring sustainable
development with appropriate use of natural resources. Around
60,000 Nepalese specimens, including many type specimens, are
held in the UK in the collections of the NHM, the Royal Botanic
Gardens Kew and the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, with the
result that the most important resources for information on Nepalese
plants are in the UK. The project is repatriating information
on important specimens by developing a specimen database, a CD-ROM
of high-resolution reference images, a bibliographic database,
and other information resources. These resources will provide
unhindered access to information in Nepal itself. Furthermore,
the project includes collaborative research and training for five
Nepalese Botanists in the NHM. This collaboration is planned to
continue beyond this specific project on a more comprehensive
Flora of Nepal, bringing further benefits to Nepal, and enabling
the NHM to continue research and information resource development
through international collaboration on its collections.
22. There are important avenues that provide
access to the collection themselves:
Loans: The Museum sends out
around 50,000 items on loan every year that enable important material
to be gathered in any one place for scientific work, whether in
the Museum or in its collaborating institutions in developed and
developing countries.
Visitors: The Museum hosts
thousands of visitor days from scientific and library users who
come to use the collections each year.
Enquiries: The Museum's scientists
answer over 40,000 queries each year, many requiring the use of
the collections and associated expertise to identify animals,
plants, fossils or minerals. Public enquiries are answered free
of chargecommercial enquiries are dealt with on a consultancy
footing.
In addition to discharging its responsibilities,
there are benefits to the Museum in making loans and hosting visits:
other institutions make loans to the Museum and are visited by
its scientists. This system depends fundamentally on goodwill
and perception of mutual benefit. Beyond this, the use by others
of the collections results in essential intellectual input to
the collectionre-ordering, updating of names and taxonomic
authorities, supporting information and practical scientific knowledge.
23. Collecting strategies: current
approaches to collecting ensure that specimens will continue to
be available in the country of origin, should local agencies wish
it. In undertaking new collections, the Museum operates in collaboration
with the appropriate national agencies, and specimens collected
can be divided between the Natural History Museum and local museums,
with appropriate measures taken for accurate identification and
development of information resources. In a few countries, there
may be lengthy legal procedures before permanent export, and in
such cases it may be preferable for material to be incorporated
into a local collection and subsequently temporarily loaned to
the National History Museum for study and sharing of resulting
information.
24. Capacity building: for some countries,
resources may not be available to provide facilities to hold national
collections, to receive loans, to develop scientific expertise,
or to send scientists to London. The Museum is active in developing
collaborative projects with different institutions in the developing
world with financial support from various agencies. These capacity-building
projects may cover:
Development of local collections
facilities and museums to meet local needs.
Training of staff in managing collections
and in various aspects of systematic science.
Programmes of exchange visits to
work on collections in the UK and in country.
Collaboration on information management
to meet particular sustainable development needsthe production
of databases or Web-based identification guides, for example.
Continuing Issues on Return
25. The area of the Museum's work that has
raised most discussion on return in the past, and is certain to
continue to be an issue of debate in the future, is that of research
on human remains.
26. This is an area of work that enables
investigation of human origins and evolution, and explains variations
in form over time and by geographical area. The work ranges from
work on pre-modern humans such as the Neanderthal people, through
to examination of relatively modern populations, seeking to explain
patterns of variation, the impact of diet and disease, and the
nature of interactions with the environment. Human skeletal material
is essential evidence if we are to gain fuller understanding of
particular societies at certain times in our past. At one end
of the time scale, the research is related to palaeontological
research on our hominid ancestors: at the other, research is complimentary
to forensic anthropology and medical osteology.
27. The Museum has research and collections
management staff working on human and hominid material. In addition,
200-300 visiting scientists use the collection each year for a
total of 900-1,000 visitor days.
28. Some of the human remains in the Museum
come from areas of the world where there is considerable debate
and activity on the return of remains from museums and universities
to the indigenous peoples who inhabited the land before European
colonisation. This is particularly so for Australasia and North
America.
29. The Museum is firmly convinced that
there is continuing scientific value in such a collection, and
that it should continue to be the focus of active research. However,
the Museum also recognises that the discourse on human remains
in museums is framed more widely than scientific research, in
terms of cultural property. The Museum agrees that there is a
need to work with institutions and organisations in those countries
where there is community demand for the return of human remains
from collections, and demands for a role for indigenous peoples
in determining the use of remains in museums. The aim of such
collaboration is to provide better information on what the Museum
does, to learn from the experience of others in this context,
and to develop mutually acceptable solutions in areas where there
are conflicting views.
30. The scale of the collection of human
remains in the NHM stands at almost 20,000 items (many of which
are partial skeletons or individual bones). More than half of
these are from the UK, some dating back tens of thousands of years.
Those from areas of sensitivity are fewer in numberthe
number of items from Australia and the Torres Strait Islands stands
at around 450 (including almost 100 hair samples), for example.
31. The information available on the collection
in the past to non-scientists has been poor, and to address this
issue, we have been developing a new inventory of particular parts
of the collection over the past 18 months (this is focusing in
particular on Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and North America
(including Hawaii)). This information is now on a database and
can be used to meet the information needs of scientists and non-scientists
alike. Around 40 requests for information on remains in the Museum
are received each year, and of these, two to three appear to be
linked to issues of return.
32. Paragraphs 15-17 above discuss the barriers
to return: the Museum is however willing to discuss alternatives
to return with appropriate institutions and organisations. In
particular we are willing to discuss:
the development of information resources;
systems of care for remains in the
museum; and
access for non-scientists to the
remains.
We are also willing to discuss other issues as
they may be raised by others.
33. Museum staff contributed to the development
of the MGC Guidelines on restitution and repatriation. These guidelines
provide an important focus for discussion and the development
of institutional policy. The Natural History Museum sees value
in information exchange, discussion and collaboration with UK
and overseas institutions on issues related to return. To this
end, for example, Museum staff have been in discussion with institutions
in Australia.
March 2000
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