Monarch Butterfly Fund


Promote the conservation and protection of forests in the core areas of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.

The Project

The Monarch Butterfly Fund is a public-private effort developed in collaboration with federal and state government institutions, organizations, and forest landowners to support the conservation of the forests in the core area of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (RBMM, acronym in Spanish) administered by the National Commission of Protected Areas (CONANP, acronym in Spanish).

Context

Since 2000, the Monarch Butterfly Fund has supported the participation of forest owners in actions to protect their territory, maintain ecological services and conserve the migratory phenomenon of the monarch butterfly in North America. To date, the Monarch Butterfly Fund covers 91% (12,367 hectares) of the core areas of the RBMM, with the participation of 33 communities (ejidos), indigenous communities, and small properties. 

The Monarch Butterfly Fund operates with an endowment administered by FMCN in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the governments of the states of Mexico and Michoacán, as well as CONANP and the National Forestry Commission (CONAFOR, acronym in Spanish).

In addition to the timely monitoring of conservation and restoration activities, the Monarch Butterfly Fund manages annual conservation payments and concurrent funds for environmental services to participating properties. In 2020, FMCN updated the legal instruments and adjusted the payment mechanism through CONAFOR's Mexican Forest Fund. With this new arrangement, payments were made with greater agility, and forest owners had lower management costs.


The lines of work that guide the actions of the Monarch Butterfly Fund are:

  1. Benefit to the owners of the core area for the provision of ecosystem services.
  2. Support for investments and compensation for the adoption of good management practices.
  3. Environmental monitoring. 
  4. Support for investments and compensation for the adoption of good natural resource management practices.

The Monarch Butterfly Fund has reduced illegal logging in the overwintering habitat of the monarch butterfly in Mexico.

New stage of the Monarch Butterfly Fund

Achievements

The main achievements of the Monarch Butterfly Fund have been the radical reduction of illegal logging and the recovery of the hibernation habitat of the Monarch butterfly, as shown by WWF's annual monitoring of land cover change.

In 2020, the Monarch Butterfly Fund celebrated 20 years of supporting forest communities in the core zone of the MBBR in protecting their forests. To celebrate two decades of operation, the Monarch Butterfly Fund coordinated the production of the documentary "Monarch Fund: 20 Years of Synergy for Conservation" to recognize the effort of those who made this project possible. In addition, a multimedia tool was developed to communicate the project's achievements on the ArcGIS StoryMaps web application.

The Monarch Butterfly Fund has achieved outstanding achievements, highlighting the significant reduction in illegal logging and the notable recovery of forest cover in the monarch butterfly habitat. This transformation is reflected in WWF's monitoring of coverage changes. The analysis of the monitoring corresponding to 2023 reveals an important milestone: one of the lowest levels of forest degradation has been achieved in the core zone of the RBMM since 2000. This achievement is the direct result of the synergy between the government, organizations of the private sector, and the owners of forest resources.
Learn more about the project 
Download
View

Working Together

With the support of CONAFOR and through Concurrent Funds, in 2008, a collaboration agreement was signed to promote Local Mechanisms for Payments for Ecosystem Services for 18 years, which made it possible to increase the support provided initially by the Monarch Butterfly Fund to forest landowners.

Delivery of conservation payments.

The project's achievements are the result of the coordinated work of the federal environmental authority, the governments of the State of Mexico and Michoacán, FMCN, WWF, ejidos, indigenous communities, and landowners in the core areas who collaborate with the operation of the Monarch Butterfly Fund and concurrent funds to double the payment per hectare conserved in the core zone of the RBMM.

Allies:


Donors: 
  • Government of the State of Mexico
  • Government of the State of Michoacán
  • Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales
  • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Partners:
  • Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas
  • Comisión Nacional Forestal
  • Ejidos, indigenous communities, and landowners in the core zone of the RBMM
  • Fondo de Conservación del Eje Neovolcánico, A.C.
  • Government of the State of Mexico
  • Government of the State of Michoacán
  • World Wildlife Fund

20 years of the Monarch Butterfly Fund

In 2020, the Monarch Butterfly Fund celebrated 20 years of work. Learn about the most critical milestones through a Story Map.