BirdLife Mourns the Loss of Ukrainian Partner CEO Oleg Dudkin
Inspirational leader, Oleg Dudkin, of the BirdLife Partner Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Birds (USPB) has died after a long illness. The global BirdLife family sends its love and condolences to his family, friends and USBP colleagues on this sad loss.
27 years of Outstanding Dedication and Perseverance for Nature and Birds
Oleg headed the Society for 27 years. Thanks to his perseverance and strategic thinking, the Society became an influential national conservation force, gaining a deserved international reputation. He was instrumental in USPB becoming a partner of BirdLife International. Under his leadership, the Society has researched and secured the conservation status of many Ukrainian important bird areas.
Always the optimist, Oleg joked once when asked how long the Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Birds would last, he answered with a smile: “At least 430 years,” because, as he said, that is the number of bird species in Ukraine.
After the Russian invasion, Oleg wrote “Hopefully these nightmares and daymares will end very soon and we will watch the sky not awaiting bombs and rockets, but only watching migrating birds.”
Carefully analyzing international conservation, he believed and worked hard to implement a powerful environmental protection system in Ukraine, where businesses and communities would support environmental initiatives and birdwatching become a popular passion.
His team wrote, “He was able to find an approach to everyone who worked with him and was always ready to support new ideas, inspiring us to achieve high results. As a leader, he worked hard to support the development of Ukrainian science, involved Ukrainian experts in international projects, and developed comprehensive action plans for the restoration of natural regions.
Oleg’s legacy includes an impressive project being implemented in Ukraine. The project is called “Restoring the bison herd viability in Elanetskyi steppe nature reserve”. This project is repairing the nature reserve enclosures damaged by the war, building a ranger post and increasing the herd gene pool diversity by purchasing and bringing in two new males. More photos can be found on USPB’s Facebook
Just this past spring, USPB organised community volunteers to count storks, perfectly representative of Oleg’s interest in citizen science and encouraging community enthusiasm in bird
Martin Harper, BirdLife International CEO, said “I know I speak for all of us at BirdLife when I say how much we will miss Oleg; his perseverance, commitment, fortitude, strength and faith in the cause were an inspiration to us all.”
Ariel Brunner, Regional Director for BirdLife’s European & Central Asian division, “I was always impressed by Oleg’s decades’ long commitment to conservation and the BirdLife family. More recently and tragically, I witnessed Oleg lead USPB and her people through its most difficult times with unwavering conviction in what he was doing”.
A graduate of the Department of Biology at Simferopol University he had a long history of environmental activism in Crimea prior to the events of 2014. Under his leadership, numerous projects were implemented on the peninsula to restore populations of rare species, restore steppes, lobby for the creation of protected areas, clean up small water bodies, and more.
Over the years of Oleg Dudkin’s work, the Society has implemented more than 300 conservation projects that leave a significant mark on the preservation of Ukrainian nature.
His team wrote, “His memory lives on in the fond memories of those who had the honor of working with him and in every project that continues his work. His life was a shining example of dedication and great love for nature.”.
