WHEREAS, the International Symposium and World Congress on the Preservation and Conservation of Natural History Collections was held in Madrid, Spain, 10-15 May 1992; and
WHEREAS, the over 400 attendees of this Symposium and World Congress represented 70 countries and 30 institutions or professional organizations associated with systematics collections; and
WHEREAS, the critical issues addressed by the International Symposium and World Congress included:
1) The central purposes of collections: recommendations to aid and monitor world-wide collection concerns;
2) Facility and resource needs for conserving collections;
3) Museums and educational needs in developing countries;
4) The need to escalate research and development of preservation and conservation techniques and research in collection management and care;
5) The need for trained systematists, collections managers, and conservation specialists;
6) The need for databases;
7) Education and public awareness;
WHEREAS, the recommendations resulting from the International Symposium and World Congress outline a set of actions for resolving these issues, including the formation of a World Council on Collections Resources; and
WHEREAS, the purpose of the World Council on Collections Resources is to serve as an international umbrella organization for institutions and professional organizations associated with systematics collections and resources; and
WHEREAS, the World Council on Collections Resources also will help monitor and coordinate activities related to the actions documented in the resolutions that were passed at the International Symposium and World Congress; and
WHEREAS, systematics collections are of crucial importance in the efforts to understand, maintain, and support the issue of global biological diversity;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that The American Society of Mammalogists, meeting at The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, 14-18 June 1992, strongly supports the efforts of the International Symposium and World Congress for the Preservation and Conservation of Natural History Collections and also endorses the basic concepts addressed in resulting resolutions.