Richard Johnston González

Senior Coordinator, Community Science for Latin America and the Caribbean
About
Richard Johnston González serves as Senior Coordinator of Community Science for Latin America and the Caribbean, where he supports the expansion and strengthening of the Christmas Bird Count and the Great Backyard Bird Count across the region. He works closely with Audubon’s Community Science, Americas, and several country programs, as well as partner organizations throughout the hemisphere.
Richard brings a wide range of experience, from project management to basic and applied research. Before joining Audubon, he worked with Patrimonio Natural, monitoring and assisting the CEPF–Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund portfolio in Colombia. He served as an adjunct professor at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana de Cali, teaching Urban Ecology and Biomimicry, and researching applications of remote sensing to assess urban green space. As a Coastal Solutions Fellow from Cornell University  he studied coastal and mangrove dynamics and its impacts on shorebirds. As a researcher at INVEMAR he co-lead the developed an automated computer-vision system for beach health monitoring. During two decades with Asociación Calidris, he led and participated in extensive field campaigns, bird conservation festivals, and community‑based and participatory science initiatives that laid the foundations for national shorebird conservation priorities and supported efforts throughout the Pacific Americas Flyway.
Richard holds a B.Sc. in Biology from Universidad del Valle and a Ph.D. in Biology from Simon Fraser University. He serves as Chair of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Group (WHSG), a collective of researchers and practitioners advancing shorebird conservation across the Americas.
He is based in Cali, where he enjoys birdwatching, cooking, trail running, and gardening.