Page 6 - Thola Issue 17

4 Director’s Report
Dr Ian Player 1927-2014.
National Research Foundation’s (NRF) Natural Science Collections Grant has contributed towards the development of a regional strategic vision (together with KwaZulu-Natal Museum), while also ensuring that the DNSM has increased the critical mass around human capacity development and skills training with respect to collections. Significant strides have also been made to increase the maintenance of collections according to international
standards through the addition of additional preparatory areas and a refrigerated container for the storage of specimens; a capital project due to start in 2015.
This focus on our collections has been supported by the addition of
two more honorary curators: Rina
and Jurie Mathee, who have tackled the formidable task of curating our ‘orphan’ malacology collection. Further expansion of our collections, necessary
not only to continue the documentation of biodiversity, but also to contribute towards climate change studies,
has been sustained by field work undertaken by Leigh Richards and Zama Mwelase (Mammalogy Department) in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, joined intermittently by Kirstin Williams and Natasha Govender (Entomology Department). Moreover, the ongoing world-class and critical research undertaken by our scientists was given due recognition late last year, with David Allan being awarded the Steven Piper Lifetime Achievement Award by the Endangered Wildlife Trust.
While the sustainable maintenance of museum collections, and increased research on them, cannot be underestimated, intensified accessibility to these collections by our various audiences will bridge the current gap that exists around the importance of museum collections. This was further emphasised by Dr Tanya Abrahamse, CEO of the South African National Biodiversity Institute, our guest speaker at our Magqubu Ntombela–Ian Player Annual Lecture, when she reviewed the aspirations of the Global Sustainable Development Goals. Science needs to
The spirit of Dr Player is captured by the profound friendship that he shared with Magqubu Ntombela – two men from different cultures who played a significant role in the conservation of South Africa’s biodiversity; who were, in the words of our late former president, Nelson Mandela, “a shining example of the spirit of the people of this country”
thola: VOLUME 17. 2014/15