Deforestation in Monarch Butterfly Reserve, Mexico

The population of monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico has dropped 22 percent from the previous year, the World Wildlife Fund said. 

Illegal logging continues to plague the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, but Crescencio Morales — once home to the region’s worst illegal logging — has seen numbers drop by 3.4 percent this year, the AP reported.

But forest degradation and loss of habit impact far more than the butterflies. The biosphere reserve also serves as the main freshwater source for 5 million people in Mexico City. Its biodiverse ecosystem is home to 132 species of birds, 56 species of mammals, 432 species of vascular plants and 211 species of fungi, according to the WWF.

The presence of monarch butterflies in Mexico's forests is on the rise, a sign of a recovery, albeit a fragile one, and gives some cause for hope amid several decades of decline in the iconic species.

Monarch butterflies were entered into the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species as “endangered.”
Climate change has scrambled the consistent weather patterns they rely on, and more butterflies are dying. Monarch butterflies are known as experts in climate adaptation, but it’s becoming much harder for them as global warming and logging hurt habitats where they breed and spend the winter. 

The forest area occupied by monarch butterflies in Mexico has declined over the past 25 years, for reasons including the huge loss of habitat in the biosphere reserve, the WWF report says. Between March 2021 and April 2022, the loss of monarch-friendly forest in the reserve tripled from 46.2 acres to over 145 acres, said Gloria Tavera, conservation director of Mexico’s Commission for National Protected Areas, the Associated Press reported.

More than half the tree loss was due to sanitary logging — the removal of dead or sick trees weakened by lack of water and therefore more vulnerable to pests and diseases, fires or storms, according to another WWF report released.

Initiative 20x20 partner Land Life Company began to reforest over 100 hectares of degraded land in the Reserve, restoring the monarch's habitat together with Mexico's National Forestry Commission (CONAFOR) and its National Commission for Protected Areas (CONANP), local communities, and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The project, along with others throughout the Reserve that have planted more than 4 million trees, has helped stabilize soil, cool the surrounding area, and bring streams spring back to life.

 A survey of the core zone of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico for since 2014 period indicates that only one –out of the 32 communities participating in the Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund – lost nearly 52 acres of forest. 

President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto, the President of the United States Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper formed a tri-national working group to protect the monarch butterfly and its habitat. That year the US Fish and Wildlife Service, at the request of environmental groups announced that it would examine the possibility of classifying the monarch as a "threatened species" and also launched a campaign to restore and protect their habitat by planting milkweed (main source of food of monarch larvae) throughout the most critical breeding areas.

Just under 50 million monarch butterflies wintered in the forests of Mexico.

About 450 ha (1,110 acres) of forest have been cleared since 2004, which is 3.3% of the reserve's core area of 13,552 ha (33,410 acres).

The majority of logging (290 hectares, or 717 acres) has occurred since March.

WWF-Mexico has begun conducting research on monarch butterfly surveys in coordination with local communities and the collaboration of the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas of Mexico, the Mexican Autonomous National University, and the WWF Alliance-Telmex Telcel Foundation.

In November, according to the presidential decree on the creation of the reserve, logging is prohibited. 

Overwintering monarch butterflies around one billion covered nearly 45 acres of forest in Mexico. 

A major forest fire followed by severe seasonal rains, washed away fertile soil.