93 bird species are at risk of becoming extinct in Norway. This year the Natural History Museum is collaborating with the music festival Øyafestivalen to give some of these birds a very special place in our programming, both before and during the festival.
Birds create a delightful range of sounds, but now it is quieter than before. The main reason for this is well documented: we humans are taking up more and more space. The five birds playing during the Øyafestivalen have been chosen to represent threatened nature. Nature that could disappear if we don't take better care of it than we do today. Let's make sure this isn't the last time we hear them.
Listen to endangered bird species
Sound design: Ohlogy
What is the problem?
Norway's and the world's biodiversity is under pressure, with more species than ever before being endangered. One of the main reasons for this is that humans are taking up an increasing amount of space. We alter the habitats of species by building roads, industries, and cabins, clear-cutting forests, and allowing cultural landscapes to become overgrown. Today, there are 2,752 endangered species on the red list in Norway, and 44,000 globally.
What is the solution?
If we are to preserve biodiversity, the foundation of life, we must stop destroying nature as we are currently doing. Valuable and threatened natural areas must be protected, destroyed nature must be restored, and diverse cultural landscapes must be managed to prevent overgrowth. In order to know where we can build and where we cannot and where conservation is most important, we need knowledge about which species and habitats exist where, and whether their populations are increasing or decreasing.
What does the Natural History Museum do?
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Outreach
The museum is open all year to the public. Through exhibitions, events, guided tours, and educating pupils and kids, we communicate nature and the interplay between humans, biodiversity, and climate. -
Research
At the museum researchers work to understand more about nature and its diversity. One of the museum's most important tasks is to map out the nature for what existed there before and what exists there now. This way we get an overview of nature and how it changes over time. This provides knowledge for those who determine how nature should be managed. -
Collections
The museum has Norways biggest collection of natural objects with everything from mammal skulls, wild flower seeds and gold, to DNA and the worlds bigges archive of bird sperm. The collection consists of around six million objects and functions as an archive over natures diversity. An archive which makes it possible to måle changes in nature over time, like the amount of of heavy metal or plastic.
Collaboration with Øya
In 2024 the Natural History Museum is the main environmental partner for the music festival Øyafestivalen. Every day during Øyafestivalen one of the birds in the campaign will be performing on one of the main stages. In addition there will be an exhibition about The Last Tour? at Tøyen tube station in July and the first two weeks of August.
