Vision and tasks

Nature is amazing and rich, but also under threat. We want everyone, young and old, expert and novice, to learn more about nature, view it from a holistic perspective and respect man´s place in it.

Our vision is to advance our knowledge of the natural world, inspiring better care of our planet.
To help make our vision to come true, we have formulated our mission statement: We want to be a centre of knowledge and a thriving meeting place for the general public and experts alike.
Our tasks

The Swedish Museum of Natural History is an authority under the Ministry of Culture. The operation of the Museum is regulated largely by two documents, partly by the "Regulation (1988:1249) with guidelines for the Swedish Museum of Natural History" and partly by an annual letter of regulation.

The guidelines among other things direct that: "The Swedish Museum of Natural History has as its mission to promote the interest for and knowledge and research about the make-up and development of the universe and the earth, the plant and animal life of the earth together with human biology and the natural environment."

The guidelines state furthermore that: "The Museum shall in particular look after, register, scientifically process and by means of new acquisitions enrich the collections which have been entrusted to the Museum, keep a selection of the collections available for the general public and other pedagogical activity, carry out and support research within the subject areas which are covered by the operations of the Museum.

The Museum is nationally responsible for the field of natural history. Within this field the Museum shall: " Work for an appropriate co-ordination of the museum service, especially between museums at a central and regional level, work for a development of the contacts between the museum service and its external environment and in that way represent the museum service.