Bonn, 21 October 2015 - A trained veterinarian, François Lamarque has pursued a successful career in wildlife conservation in both Europe and Africa for over thirty years.

Although he is primarily a mammalogist, François has been in charge of international activities both for the French National Agency for Hunting and Wildlife (Office National de la Chasse et Faune Sauvage - ONCFS) and the French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, where he currently works. This experience has naturally led to an interest in migratory birds and AEWA.

Since AEWA MOP2 in Bonn in 2002 where François represented ONCFS before France became a Party to AEWA, his path crossed that of the Agreement regularly. He participated in MOP3 in Dakar in 2004 as a member of the French delegation, worked with Wetlands International during the setting up of the Wings over Wetlands Project and served in the field during the first episode of avian influenza in 2006 when he swabbed migratory waterbirds in the internal Delta of Niger, in Mali and in southern Burkina Faso. François is now the French National Focal Point for AEWA and a member of the AEWA Standing Committee, where he represents Europe and Central Asia.
 

These experiences have allowed him to explore and appreciate all aspects of the Agreement.  For him,

"This is a pragmatic and operational agreement which takes into account all the components necessary for the conservation of migratory waterbirds which are natural resources shared by countries that have very different priorities and means: birds and their habitat, wetlands of course, but also humans, as a simple observers or as consumers. I greatly appreciate the fact that the Agreement addresses the use of migratory waterbirds, which is a reality in northern countries but also in Africa where many local people depend on them for survival during certain periods of the year. Beyond the interest in the conservation of species, because of my training background, I also find very useful to track the status of various migratory bird populations by means of regular census, because if it has often been said that migratory birds are a bridge between the continents, they are also a potential source of introduction of pathogens between them. In this respect, any population decline of migratory waterbirds must be analyzed also in the light of health issues."

François’s favorite AEWA bird species is the Garganey, Anas querquedula. It reminds him of the intense and friendly moments spent with African colleagues in Mopti where he swabbed hundreds of individuals of this species locally called "Dougou-dougou".