Decadal Plan for taxonomy and biosystematics

We are living through an unprecedented global crisis, caused by rapidly accelerating human impacts on the planet. Many species are becoming extinct before they have been documented, and every extinction is a loss for society, the environment, and our future. The need for a sound understanding of biodiversity has never been greater. Taxonomy and biosystematics are fundamental to our understanding our biodiversity for the benefit of science and society is important.

In response to this urgent need the taxonomists and biosystematists in New Zealand and Australia have developed a collective vision to invigorate and boost taxonomy and biosystematics in both countries. This vision is presented in Discovering Biodiversity – a decadal plan for taxonomy and biosystematics in Australia and New Zealand 2018-2027.

In the forward to Discovering Biodiversity, Sir David Attenborough commends the plan saying:

“Taxonomists and biosystematists build the system, the species and their relationships, on which much of biology, conservation, ecology—and nature documentaries—depend. We cannot properly grasp or understand the natural world without this taxonomic system. Every time I show the world a species and its life, I depend on the work of these scientists.

“And yet, in countries the world over, at the very time that many species are under greatest threat, funding and other resources allocated to the task of discovering, naming and documenting nature are declining.

“This decadal plan provides an important vision, and outlines what taxonomists and biosystematists working in Australia and New Zealand could achieve if properly supported.”

Discovering Biodiversity is jointly published by Royal Society Te Apārangi and the Australian Academy of Science. It is available for download from Royal Society Te Apārangi’s website.