Bonn,
2 June 2012 - Vogelbescherming Nederland (VBN, BirdLife
in The Netherlands) and WWF-Netherlands are funding a new
chair in migratory bird ecology at the University of Groningen.
The support from the two Non-Governmental Organisations
includes at least 10 years of funding for PhD and postdoctoral
researchers.

The chair is held by Professor Theunis Piersma, a world
authority on the ecology of migratory birds, whose work
includes studies on the links between shorebirds breeding
in the Wadden Sea and their wintering grounds on intertidal
wetlands along the West African coast. Professor Piersma
was also one of the key
note speakers at the 15th Anniversary of AEWA Symposium
held 14-15 June 2010 in The Hague.

“Now that there is a chair that concentrates very
specifically on migratory bird ecology, I expect we will
be able to expand the scope of this global research even
further”, said Professor Piersma. “This is urgently
needed, because thanks to human co-use of their habitats,
most of the migratory bird populations we have studied are
declining rapidly.”

Fred Wouters, the Director of VBD said: “Scientific
knowledge is crucial for the protection of migratory birds.
Vogelbescherming was able to successfully challenge the
Dutch mussel farming policy in the Wadden Sea partly thanks
to the results of research by Theunis Piersma and his group.
The insights generated by the new chair in Global Flyway
Ecology will help in devising conservation strategies for
this vulnerable group of birds.”

Migratory shorebirds depend on a diminishing number of
wetlands, which are often seriously degraded and under threat
from reclamation projects.

For more information please see: BirdLife
International