The South African government’s Covid-19 portal at sacoronavirus.co.za site contains information about the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the disease it causes, plus statistics on its spread in SA and related government press releases.
The Natural Science Collections Facility is a network of South African institutions holding natural science collections, established as part of the Department of Science & Technology’s Research Infrastructure Roadmap and co-ordinated by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). Participating institutions are committed to collaborating to achieve the following objectives:
Collections secured and accessible physically and virtually for research
Data from specimens in collections accessible and used for managing collections, research and decision-making
Research on collections and associated data addresses issues of national and global relevance
Collections and associated research provide services to identify natural science specimens for a range of stakeholders including in the agriculture, health, environmental management and academic sectors
Latest News
Why Do Museums Matter? NSCF Celebrates International Museum Day 2022
Article by Nicklaus KrugerMuseums aren’t just musty buildings for storing boring old stuff. They have the power to teach us about our past and open our minds to new ideas — and to transform the world around us. On International Museum Day 2022, we’re celebrating that...
Discovery of new species and records of rare African wasps
Simon van Noort, Research and Exhibitions Department, Iziko Museums of South AfricaThe ongoing exploration and documentation of the huge diversity of unknown wasp species in Africa has recently led to the description of new species of rare parasitoid wasp species,...
YouTube Series to Explore Iziko’s collections
Aisha Mayekiso, Iziko Museums of South AfricaThe Iziko Collections and Digitisation Department has launched a new video series, set to showcase an aspect of Iziko’s extraordinary collections each month, and published on Iziko’s YouTube channel. The idea behind the...
New species described from South African collections
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Use of Collections

Shale Gas Exploration SEA

Barcode of Wildlife Project

Red List Assessments
Virtual Museum
The NSCF aims to increase the accessibility and use of natural science collections for research and also to secure collections.
One mechanism of achieving both these objectives is to establish a “virtual museum” which will take the form of detailed images of important specimens such as types, and to also provide digital access to documents such as historical field notes, old catalogue books and accession registers and other documents related to the collections. Over the next two years we will initiate a project to digitise specimens and important documents and to make these available online. We also aim to show some of the collection store rooms online to provide a sense of the scope and scale of these for the public who rarely have the chance to see these hidden treasures.