Stuart Butchart

I am Chief Scientist at BirdLife International, where I have worked since 2002. I lead a team with an overall remit to develop BirdLife’s global scientific data, research and priority-setting that underpins the Conservation Programmes implemented by the BirdLife Partnership of over 100 national biodiversity conservation organisations around the world, and that provides a sound scientific basis for BirdLife’s policy, advocacy and communication work.

This includes identifying which bird species worldwide are closest to extinction – by regularly assessing all 11,000 bird species for the IUCN Red List (in our role as Red List Authority for birds for IUCN). It also includes identifying some of the most important sites for biodiversity, by defining (and guiding the application of) the global criteria for identifying Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs; as part of a wider network of Key Biodiversity Areas), as well as collaborative research to address questions such as: how will climate change impact the world’s birds and IBAs; where are the most urgent priorities for eradicating invasive alien species; what are the major drivers of deforestation having greatest impact on bird species; what is the scope and severity of illegal killing and hunting of birds; how can the value of ecosystem services delivered by important sites for biodiversity be assessed; what conservation actions are most urgent to implement and where; how can data from birds be used to track global environmental trends; what difference has conservation made; how can we measure conservation impact, etc.