The Brazilian Society of Palaeontology (BSP) has recently taken steps to become more involved in the repatriation of fossil specimens — a central issue in the global palaeontological community, as interest in combating scientific colonialism grows — both through collaboration with researchers and other Latin American scientific associations. We discuss our experience, including the challenges we have faced and how we have overcome them, in the hope of inspiring other scientific societies to play their part.
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Acknowledgements
The BSP board thanks all its associate members. In addition, we thank the Latin American palaeontological associations (of Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Peru) for the joint work we have carried out so far. We are grateful to the several Brazilian and foreign partners involved in the repatriation of Brazilian fossil specimens, especially to A. Ghilardi (UFRN), J. Cisneros (UFPI), R. Costa da Silva (MCT/SGB), L. Troiano (IPHAN), R. Sampaio (Araripe Geopark; URCA), A. Pinheiro (MPPCN, URCA), A. Soares (Anauene Art Law and UnB) and the MCTI, MEC and MRE of Brazil.
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de Araújo-Júnior, H.I., Ghilardi, R.P., Ribeiro, V.R. et al. Scientific societies have a part to play in repatriating fossils. Nat Ecol Evol 8, 355–358 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02296-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02296-2
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