Fire at Brazil ' s National Museum Destroys Millions of Science Collections

A massive fire at Brazil’s National Museum in Rio de Janeiro has resulted in the loss of about 20 million artefacts, including science and natural history collections. Details of the extent of the damage are still emerging, but a large insect collection of nearly 5 million specimens has reportedly been lost. The herbarium, which houses about 650,000 plant specimens, had moved to a separate building in 2007 and was spared from the fire. “It’s an irreparable loss, not only for Brazilian science but for the world. The building can be reconstructed, restored, and everything else, but the collections can never be replaced. Two centuries of science and culture are lost forever,” said Sergio Alex Kugland de Azevedo, a paleozoologist and former Director of the museum. The museum served as a major research institution and housed items such as the first fossil discovered in Brazil, the oldest female skull found in the Americas, and the Brazil’s largest meteorite. Infrastructural limitations made it challenging to suppress the flames in the museum full of flammable materials such as wood and paper. There were no sprinkler systems in the museum and very limited water was available in the fire hydrants, forcing fire fighters to carry in water from a nearby lake. The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) managed the museum with financial support from the federal government. Science reported that the scientific community in Brazil blames “chro...
Source: Public Policy Reports - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news