CREAF researcher Sergi Herrando, new vice-president of the European Bird Census Council

The General Assembly of the European Bird Census Council (EBCC) has elected CREAF researcher and scientific director of the Institut Català d'Ornitologia Sergi Herrando as its new vice-president, replacing Verena Keller. The organisation has also confirmed Keller as president, taking over from Mark Eaton.

Although the position provides Herrando a new responsibility to support and promote long-term follow-up initiatives, the researcher admits that "my willing is to start learning from colleagues and predecessors". And he points to the seniority of the new president as a key element in the immediate future of the organisation. "It is a little early to talk about the future, but I think we will have to try to connect European monitoring and research as much as possible with decision-making on biodiversity management and conservation. And to do so bearing in mind both the need for harmonisation at European and national level", he says. "European natural and cultural diversity is the starting point from which the EBCC and its partner organisations work for birds and nature that know no borders", according to Herrando.

"Although it is a little early to talk about the future, I think we will have to try to connect European monitoring and research as much as possible with decision-making on biodiversity management and conservation. And to do so bearing in mind both the need for harmonisation at European and national level"

SERGI HERRANDO, CREAF researcher and new vice-president of the EBCC.

The European Bird Census Council has undergone a remarkable evolution and growth in recent years, as evidenced by the publication of several scientific papers by specialists. A couple of examples are the recent papers published in the journal PNAS, in which Herrando is involved. The first argues why intensive agriculture is the main cause of the decline of birds in Europe and the second demonstrates that physical barriers (mountains and seas) are limiting the movement of bird species towards the north-east of the continent in search of optimal climatic conditions. Global change and its repercussions on birds and biodiversity are the common thread running through the research of this field ornithologist and naturalist, who is passionate about change and resilience.

Taking flight without borders

"It's an honour because of the support it represents, both from the Board of Directors and from the votes of the national delegations representing ornithological organisations from all over Europe"

Sergi Herrando's collaboration with the EBCC goes back years and, for this reason, taking on the vice-presidency is both a source of pride and a responsibility. "It's an honour because of the support it represents, both from the Board of Directors and from the votes of the national delegations representing ornithological organisations from all over Europe" He also emphasises the personal commitment of the international prestige of the organisation, which has always maintained a complementarity between the work at local and international level.

The EBCC is a Europe-wide partnership of ornithologists working together to improve the monitoring of bird populations and thereby inform and improve their management and conservation. One of its achievements is the New European Breeding Bird Atlas, a volume produced thanks to the participation of 48 countries and more than 100,000 people. The EBCC has recently received an honourable mention in the European Union's Citizen Science Award.