Draft, Vught/Amsterdam, June 3, 2014

Purpose (source: Statutes Semblis Foundation, drawn up in Bilthoven, March 2014).

The purpose of the Semblis Foundation is to carry out, promote and safeguard faunistic knowledge in the field of the macrofauna of fresh and salt water in Europe. The foundation seeks to achieve its goal, among other things, by coordinating, organizing or carrying out:

• Faunistic research: research on the distribution of macrofauna species in European waters. Clarified: macrofauna are aquatic invertebrate organisms, such as insect larvae, worms, snails, shells, living in fresh and salt water.
• Secure knowledge of specialists in the field of macrofauna.
• Publication of determination works on macrofauna.
• Unlock the knowledge in aforementioned via a website (
  www.semblis.org
  )
• Organization of symposia in the field of macrofauna

To concretize the goal, the following policy plan has been adopted.

Long-term (10 years)

The Foundation is a renowned contributor to the assurance and sharing of knowledge about macrofauna in Europe. The knowledge, which is specialized, has been made accessible and is available to researchers, institutions, governments, managers and NGOs. New connections have been made between knowledge holders in Europe. Knowledge includes species recognition, ecological knowledge about species and species distribution. This knowledge is relevant for policy (e.g., how do I recognize a northern cormorant, a species subject to fisheries policy); for management (e.g., have recovery measures of a bog reserve led to a return of characteristic species of Trichoptera); for protecting special water-related natural values, but also for answering questions of a changing world (exotic species, climate change).

Medium-term (5 years)

The foundation secures and maintains knowledge of macrofauna of fresh and salt water in the Netherlands ( a.o. Project Henk Moller Pillot- 50 years of research on macrofauna). Semblis becomes active in the area of publications and organizing Symposia on a European scale and helps to realize them.

Short term (now)

The foundation undertakes the following activities: publication of articles on macrofauna and newsletter on Trichoptera; lead author and co-author of the forthcoming Entomological Table on Trichoptera; transfer of knowledge through evenings for volunteers, managers and other interested parties; conducts research on the free distribution of Trichoptera in Benelux. Liaise with external specialists on Trichoptera in EU countries.