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Natural History Museum to open climate gallery
Fixing Our Broken Planet is part of a wider scheme to redevelop the South Kensington site
London's Natural History Museum has announced that its first new permanent gallery to open in nine years will focus on climate change.
Fixing Our Broken Planet, which will be unveiled on 3 April, will combine research from the museum’s scientists with advice from environmentalists and young people on how to better care for the planet and its future.
NHM director Doug Gurr said: “Our scientists have been working to find solutions for and from nature. Fixing Our Broken Planet places this research at the heart of the museum, allowing us to offer visitors positive ways in which they can act for the planet."
The new gallery, which will be free to enter, is the first milestone for NHM150, a project to redevelop the museum's South Kensington home. The organisation, which celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2031, is aiming to raise £150m to carry out the plan.
Part of this plan includes a permanent gallery for families featuring exhibits designed to help children connect with the natural world. This will open in 2027.
The museum secured a £1.64m grant from the Natural Environment Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation, to support the Fixing Our Broken Planet programme. And Wellcome has agreed a five-year £1.25m sponsorship deal to support the Our Health gallery space and other activities on climate change and its health impacts.
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Other funders include global biopharma company GSK and US renewable energy company Ørsted.
The scheme to redevelop the museum is also being supported £4.6m from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund.