PRESS RELEASE
The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Group awards the Lewis Oring Prize to recognize the careers of researchers who, throughout their lives, have made a substantial contribution to the study and knowledge of shorebirds.
On October 28, 2019 the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Group awarded this important distinction to Dr. Roberto Carmona, professor-researcher at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur in Mexico, founder and director of the Bird Laboratory for the same university, and scientific advisor to the conservation organization Pronatura Noroeste.
Roberto Carmona has dedicated his professional life to the study and conservation of shorebirds and their habitat in Northwest Mexico. His career in this field began in Baja California in the late 1980s, when he gave the first course on shorebirds in the region. Since then, and for more than 30 years, Roberto Carmona has designed, directed, and implemented numerous research, exploration, monitoring, education, and conservation projects for shorebirds in this very important area of the Pacific Flyway.
Among Roberto Carmona’s main contributions are included his work in the Guerrero Negro wetland complex, on the central Pacific Coast of Baja California with nearly 25 years of permanent research and monitoring, the description and study of the spring migration of the Red knot in the Upper Gulf of California, the exploration of numerous wetlands on the continental coast of the Mexican Pacific, and extensive output, including the publication of 80 scientific articles, dissemination articles, and book chapters on the distribution, abundance, habitat use, populational dynamics, feeding, and migratory patterns of this group of birds. His work is so important and transcendent that it is impossible to conduct a review on the state of shorebirds in Northwest Mexico without referencing the work of Roberto and his team.
As a teacher, to date, Roberto has overseen 42 bachelor, Master of Science, and doctoral theses. He has also offered numerous training courses to students, professionals, companies, government officials, and community groups on topics ranging from biology and monitoring, to birdwatching and the conservation of the birds.
As an advisor to Pronatura Noroeste, Roberto provided the scientific basis for the design and implementation of this organization’s regional shorebird conservation program, which is implemented as part of the Shorebird Conservation Strategy in the Pacific Flyway in Northwest Mexico.
As part of this program, Roberto has collaborated in the design and implementation of the action plan for the conservation of the Red knot and the Dunlin in the Upper Gulf of California; has proposed the inclusion of four species of shorebirds on the list of protected species of Mexico (a proposal that was approved yesterday by the government of Mexico); has shared the importance of conserving shorebirds and their habitat in protected areas and priority wetlands in the northwest of the country; has advised the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas in the rezoning of the “El Vizcaíno” and “Upper Gulf of California and Colorado River Delta” biosphere reserves, based on the habitat use of shorebirds in both of these protected areas; and has promoted the designation or recategorization of eight sites in the Hemispheric Reserve Network for Shorebirds, which equates to one-third of all designated sites in Mexico.
