Jorge Soberon Mainero <jsoberon at MIRANDA.ECOLOGIA.UNAM.MX> wrote:
This morning the committee that is writing the new Mexican regulations
for scientific collecting permits discussed a topic of interest to many of
you, and I was asked to use TAXACOM to explore the opinions of foreign
taxonomists. The point is an article of the law which in the proposal
reads as follows:
"In the case that the material collected in Mexico is used to describe
new species, it will be necessary for the foreign scientist to deposit
part of the type material in a Mexican collection with an infrastructure
that guarantees its preservation and maintenance"
We went for almost two hours over this point without reaching an
agreement. For several of us the article expressed something which is a
matter of principle. Oponents to the article, however, felt that it may
cause unecessary concern among foreign taxonomists without improving what
is almost a rule of cooperation between the main Mexican collections
and their foreign counterparts.
Your comments will be useful for our discussion.
As a taxonomist working in a country where most of the types are held in
northern hemisphere institutions, with our access to them severely
restricted, I strongly support your principle. Imagine how the Americans
or Europeans would feel if the types of their flora were locked away on
another continent!
Yours,
16 messages in edu.ku.nhm.mailman.taxacomDeposit of type material
