 Linda DaVolls (ZSL)
Dr Stuart Butchart being presented with the prestigious Zoological Society of London's Marsh Award for Conservation Biology
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BirdLife scientist receives top conservation award
01-07-2008
Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife's Global Research and Indicators Coordinator, was recently presented with the prestigious Zoological Society of London's (ZSL) Marsh Award for Conservation Biology. The Award recognises his scientific work for BirdLife, in particular on developing indicators using data on birds as powerful tools to track biodiversity trends.
The ZSL Marsh Award for Conservation Biology is usually given to university academics, but this time recognises the important scientific work carried out by BirdLife as a non-governmental organisation. Dr Butchart was handed the award by Brian Marsh of the Marsh Christian Trust and Professor Patrick Bateson, President of ZSL, at the society’s meeting rooms in London.
“I am honoured to receive this award, which recognises our success, in collaboration with many other organisations, in developing data on species into meaningful indicators with which to track human impacts on biodiversity” —Dr Stuart Butchart , BirdLife's Global Research and Indicators Coordinator
Dr Butchart said “I am honoured to receive this award, which recognises our success, in collaboration with many other organisations, in developing data on species into meaningful indicators with which to track human impacts on biodiversity”.
Working at BirdLife International since 2002, Dr Butchart now heads BirdLife’s Global Species Programme and leads research on conservation priority-setting, climate change impacts, and indicators. Most importantly, Dr Butchart led a collaboration to develop the Red List Index – a biological barometer based on evaluations of the status of species on the IUCN Red List, and changes in these assessments over time. Initially developed using BirdLife’s extensive datasets on birds, the approach is now being rolled out for other taxonomic groups.
“Stuart’s work on the Red List Index has been truly groundbreaking. This is a simple yet powerful approach that allows the assessment of trends in endangerment – the rate at which species are slipping towards extinction” —Dr Leon Bennun , BirdLife’s Director of Science, Policy and Information
BirdLife’s Director of Science, Policy and Information, Dr Leon Bennun, said: “Stuart’s work on the Red List Index has been truly groundbreaking. This is a simple yet powerful approach that allows the assessment of trends in endangerment – the rate at which species are slipping towards extinction”.
As a result of the achievements of Dr Butchart and his collaborators, the Red List Index is being used by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for reporting on progress towards the global 2010 target to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss. Dr Bennun noted: “The United Nations Millennium Development Goals have also recently adopted an indicator based on threatened species for which the Red List Index will be used to measure trends. This is a major policy achievement for conservation, and due very largely to the excellence of Stuart’s science”.
Work on the Red List Index has involved close collaboration with IUCN, Conservation International, ZSL, and a range of other organisations.