The Fifth International Barcode of Life Conference concluded with the official signing of the Kunming Declaration, which outlined a series of action items aimed at advancing the scientific and social impacts of the global DNA barcoding community’s future activities. Recognizing the potential for education to emerge as a valuable societal impact of DNA barcoding, the Declaration states:

Advances in barcoding science, its application, and its impacts on society would benefit from having an international coordinating organization that would promote [the] development and delivery of training programs to build global capacity, and integrate barcoding into all levels and types of education.

The formal inclusion of education as one of eight primary iBOL objectives reflects an explicit commitment by scientists to help educators bridge research and education, and to collaborate on the development of new models to innovate, update, and revitalize science education.