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Conservation approaches to social-ecological systems have largely been informed by a framing of preserving nature for its instrumental societal benefits, often ignoring the complex relationship of humans and nature and how climate change might impact these. The Nature Futures Framework (NFF) was developed by the Task Force on scenarios and models of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services as a heuristic approach that appreciates the diverse positive values of nature and its contribution to people. In this overview, we convene a group of experts to discuss the NFF as a tool to inform management in social-ecological systems facing climate change. We focus on three illustrative case studies from the global south across a range of climate change impacts at different ecological levels. We find that the NFF can facilitate the identification of trade-offs between alternative climate adaptation pathways based on different perspectives on the values of nature they emphasize. However, we also identify challenges in adopting the NFF, including how outputs can be translated into modeling frameworks. We conclude that using the NFF to unpack diverse management options under climate change is useful, but that there are still gaps where more work needs to be done to make it fully operational. A key conclusion is that a range of multiple perspectives of people’s values on nature could result in adaptive decision-making and policy that is resilient in responding to climate change impacts in social-ecological systems.

This brief covers international climate change policies and actions spanning the last 30 years, and traces how they relate to museums’ activities. It also presents opportunities for museums to inco...

This article explores how museums can help empower people to engage constructively with climate change, through applying a range of time-related concepts to their exhibitions and events. Museums are mostly collections of the past. Climate change now and future presents particular challenges as it is perceived to be psychologically distant. The link between this distance and effective climate action is complex and presents an opportunity for museums, as sites where psychological distance can be explored in safe, consequence-free ways. This paper explores how we can use museums to help develop understanding within the rhetoric of climate change to assist visitors with their personal or collective response to the climate challenge. Time-related concepts including Foucault’s heterotopia, long-term thinking as advocated in the History Manifesto and the ‘Big Here and Long Now’, are explored in relation to museums as potential tools for constructive climate change engagement.

Collections-based organizations (CBOs) can play a crucial role in addressing sustainable development (SD), but their aspiration to become more sustainable, as seen in policies and guidelines, is confronted with several challenges in practice. To facilitate a sustainability transition, this process of change needs to be managed and adequate tools adopted and implemented. Many tools exist to support this transition; however, a scarcity of centralized resources available to CBOs might negatively affect the integration of sustainability practices in their work. With the aim to address this gap, ICCROM launched the project “Our Collections Matter” (OCM) and developed an online toolkit (OCMT) to centralize resources and help CBOs align their work to the UN Agenda 2030. Recently, a workshop was organized with professionals in the field to discuss shared challenges and aspirations and to test the OCMT. This study reflects on how such centralization of resources can contribute to overcoming existing challenges and support the sustainability aspirations of CBOs, fostering change in the field. To do that, the workshop outcomes are analyzed and discussed from a change management perspective, looking at the impact that the OCM project and its activities can have on fostering change, and the role that ICCROM can play in facilitating the sustainability transition of the field.

Collections-based organizations (CBOs) can play a crucial role in addressing sustainable development (SD), but their aspiration to become more sustainable, as seen in policies and guidelines, is confronted with several challenges in practice. To facilitate a sustainability transition, this process of change needs to be managed and adequate tools adopted and implemented. Many tools exist to support this transition; however, a scarcity of centralized resources available to CBOs might negatively affect the integration of sustainability practices in their work. With the aim to address this gap, ICCROM launched the project “Our Collections Matter” (OCM) and developed an online toolkit (OCMT) to centralize resources and help CBOs align their work to the UN Agenda 2030. Recently, a workshop was organized with professionals in the field to discuss shared challenges and aspirations and to test the OCMT. This study reflects on how such centralization of resources can contribute to overcoming existing challenges and support the sustainability aspirations of CBOs, fostering change in the field. To do that, the workshop outcomes are analyzed and discussed from a change management perspective, looking at the impact that the OCM project and its activities can have on fostering change, and the role that ICCROM can play in facilitating the sustainability transition of the field.

In order to address the ongoing loss of biodiversity and degradation of the natural environment, there is a need to engage people effectively in biodiversity and other environmental sustainability issues. There is also a need to engage people effectively in nature for their health, wellbeing and fulfilment, and to promote strong neighbourhoods and communities. These parallel agendas can be brought together and addressed through natural history displays and related activities in museums, provided these are mindful of messages and activities that promote people’s connections with nature.

Climate change engagement presents a number of challenges to museums, which tend to be most comfortable in dealing with the topics in which they are expert, and focus on presenting information. This chapter will explore some of the challenges and ‘letting go’ that could help museums reposition themselves to engage people more constructively with climate change and related issues, to embrace a more future-focused frame, and to focus more effectively on the connection between thinking–feeling–doing, and on inspiration, in order to encourage, inspire and realize positive futures. More generally, it will explore how museums could work to develop a more positive and inclusive vision of the future, as an alternative, rather than an antidote, to that presented in mass media, and to work with people at local and global levels to create and enact that narrative. The chapter proposes a set of 15 ‘shoulds’ for museums, to help global museums of any scale or subject to support climate action constructively.

This paper sets out some reflections on the ways in which museums can approach climate change engagement, based on recent experiences of the re-design of a permanent natural history gallery and a climate change focused exhibition at the Manchester Museum, part of the University of Manchester (Manchester, UK). It emphasises the importance of engaging with people in affective and behavioural (personal action) terms, rather than focussing solely on climate change information. It also emphasises the importance of providing people with opportunities to express their ideas, values and concerns, promoting critical thinking, civic discourse and climate change action. Through providing such opportunities, museums could provide more effective service to society, supporting and enabling positive action directed towards climate change mitigation and adaptation.

This chapter explores how Henry established himself into natural history society in London. It explores his participation in the fortnightly meetings of the Zoological Society of London and attendance at natural history auctions in London. It also explores the importance of correspondence networks among ornithologists. The British Ornithologists’ Union, the leading grouping of ornithologists in Britain, is explored in terms of its establishment, aims and its key members. Dresser was elected as a Member of the British Ornithologists’ Union in 1865. Dresser’s early publications are explored, notably his article on the birds of Southern Texas, based on his experiences there in 1863–64. Dresser became involved in the early bird conservation movement, and played a leading role in a committee to establish a close season for British seabirds.

This chapter explores the 1880s as a time when standards were set in ornithology, in terms of scientific practices of naming and drawing up agreed lists of accepted records of rare birds visiting Britain. Dresser was a key figure in this, at a time when a number of self-proclaimed authorities disputed evidence and practices. Dresser was involved in various arguments over scientific naming practices with American ornithologists, which would run for many years. His relationship with Henry Seebohm, an English collector with whom he had previously been on good terms, deteriorates as Seebohm set out to deinstall Dresser as the leading commentator on the birds of Europe and Siberia. The British Museum (Natural History) continued to develop its leading importance as a scientific research institution, attracting support from many of Dresser’s contemporaries and acquiring their collections. Dresser remained separated from the museum.

This chapter explores Dresser’s activities in the 1890s. His relationship with Walter Rothschild, a particularly wealthy private collector, is discussed. Dresser continued to hold a leading position in scientific society and became involved in the early Society for the Protection of Birds. He had some involvement with the British Ornithologists’ Club, established by Richard Sharpe of the British Museum (Natural History). There were ongoing disputes on how birds should be given scientific names; Dresser was notable as a firm advocate of the ‘old school’, which was losing ground to new innovations supported by American ornithologists. There was a dispute over the ownership of bird specimens with Richard Sharpe, which would be the first of several such accusations. Dresser parted with his bird collection to Manchester Museum. The days of independent gentlemen naturalists were not over, but the rift between individuals and organised institutions, societies and professionals was growing ever wider.

This chapter explores how Dresser consolidated his position in scientific society through the 1870s, when he was working on A History of the Birds of Europe. He and his colleagues ‘ran’ English ornithology, being an elite club of wealthy, ambitious and immensely able ornithologist–collectors. Many of the leading figures lived together in a London townhouse as a kind of bachelor club, before they married and settled down. The chapter explores the power relationships that existed between ornithologists in London and those in far-flung places, taking Dresser’s relationship with Edwin Brooks as an example. Dresser’s ongoing contribution to bird conservation is explored. Some notable debates and disagreements in which Dresser was involved are explored, notably disputes over what scientific names bird should be known by, and relationships with Sharpe at the British Museum (Natural History). The chapter concludes with discussion of Dresser’s marriage and settling down.

This chapter explores Dresser’s life through the 1860s, following his return to England from Mexico and Texas. His father had been bankrupted by the American Civil War, so Dresser had to take over as head the family, as the eldest son. This was a chaotic period when Dresser considered leaving London to live abroad. Ultimately, he settled into business and became extremely successful. He worked as a leading iron-trading merchant, a line of work he remained in for over forty years. This set the background and context for all of his natural history work, which forms the subject of subsequent chapters. The chapter includes details of his business travels throughout Europe during the 1860s, mixing business and ornithology.

This chapter explores Dresser’s visit to Texas in 1863–64, during the American Civil War. He was employed by some Liverpool and Manchester businessmen to take a cargo of goods to the Confederacy in exchange for cotton, which was in heavy demand in Britain. It follows his eventful journey and 18 months in Texas and Mexico, when he had a number of extraordinary adventures. Dresser narrowly escaped being killed a number of times and his business situation was often precarious. In San Antonio he lived with Adolphus Heermann, a well-known ornithologist. In between his difficulties, Dresser built a large bird collection, which formed the basis of a notable article on the birds of Southern Texas. The chapter is based on Dresser’s unpublished diary, which emphasises the ‘boy’s own’ aspects of his adventure.

During the first five years of the new century, Dresser published the Manual of the Birds of Europe, an important contribution to ornithology. This book was produced at the same time as another on the same subject but adopting novel approaches; the two books are compared and contrasted. The long-running argument over scientific naming practices was settled at an international congress but the British ornithologists had lost out in their long running battle with American ornithologists. There was a further dispute with the British Museum (Natural History), who accused Dresser of misappropriating specimens for his collection. Dresser began work on a great book project on eggs of the birds of Europe and Asia, capitalising on discoveries being made by his close collaborators in Russia.

This chapter explores Dresser’s family background, establishing the family’s wealth and prominent social position. Dresser was sent to be schooled, alone, to Germany and Sweden, as his father had business interests in Baltic timber. Dresser learnt all of the main European languages at this time. Following this, he spent several years in Finland and New Brunswick in the timber business. It was in Finland that he made his first significant ornithological discovery, finding the nest of the Waxwing, being the first English collector to do so. The chapter introduces Dresser’s collecting of birds and eggs, and how he mixed ornithology with business when in the timber and mercantile business. It introduces his early life in London-based natural history society and his meeting with Alfred Newton, the leading ornithologist in Britain, who served as his mentor throughout much of Dresser’s life. The chapter is largely based on Dresser’s unpublished diaries.

SUMMARY Male common snipe (Capella gallinago gallinago) produce a ‘drumming’ sound with their outer tail feathers during their mating dives, but little is known about how this is achieved. We investigated the movements and sound producing capabilities of the outer tail feathers. Using a wind tunnel, we compared observations of the frequencies of sound produced with the predictions from aerodynamic theory. The feathers were also filmed in an air-flow with a high speed video camera, and subjected to morphological examination and biomechanical testing. We propose a mechanistic hypothesis of how the modified outer feathers of the male common snipe generate sound, and the adaptations that facilitate this. Video and audio analysis of the feather demonstrated that a fluttering of the trailing vane generated the sound. The flutter of the vane is facilitated by the rearward curvature of the feather shaft, reduced branching angles of the barbs in the trailing vane and the lack of hooks on the barbs along a hinge region, all of which increase its flexural compliance. Sound production occurred at the same frequency as the vane movements, at frequencies consistent with it being produced by a fluttering flag mechanism powered by vortex shedding.