Bonn, 15 May 2012 - CMS would like to express its congratulations to Latin America’s most renowned bat researcher for his outstanding conservation achievements. The Whitley Fund for Nature bestowed its newly-created Gold Award to Rodrigo Medellín on 9th May at a ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in London.

Professor Medellín has been teaching conservation biology and community ecology for over 20 years in Mexico City and other universities abroad. He specializes in community ecology, plant-animal interactions, population biology and, more recently, molecular ecology.

Thanks to his awareness training pertaining to the vital role of bats in ecosystems, the general perception of bats in Mexico and the rest of Latin America has dramatically changed. During the Year of the Bat and in the run up to Rio+20, his scientific findings have contributed substantially to highlighting the environmental and economic benefits bats that are able to provide regarding US cotton crops.

As a result of his conservation measures, he recently achieved an outstanding and most rare success in the conservation world. The lesser long-nosed bat will no longer have to be included on Mexico’s Federal List of Endangered Species.

For more information, please visit the Whitley Awards website.