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 Natural 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 State 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. Remuneration to the owners 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 the diversification and permanence of financing to promote the sustainable management of natural resources.

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.

During the first half of 2024, the Government of the state of Michoacán made a contribution to the endowment fund, which will increase long-term financial support for forest landowners and thus strengthen the conservation actions carried out by the agrarian nuclei (NA, acronym in Spanish). These NA ensure the maintenance of forest cover in the core areas of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (RBMM, acronym in Spanish). 

Additionally, management actions committed to in the Best Management Practices Programs for conservation were implemented, and the NA submitted their annual reports to (CONAFOR , acronym in Spanish) for evaluation. Likewise, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) conducted an analysis of forest cover in the core areas of the RBMM. Based on the changes in forest cover identified in this analysis, two working meetings and three field verification tours were scheduled, with the participation of the forest landowners. 
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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 increment 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:
  • National Commission of Natural Protected Areas
  • National Forestry Commission
  • Ejidos, indigenous communities, and landowners in the core zone of the RBMM
  • Fondo de Conservación del Eje Neovolcánico
  • Government of the State of Mexico
  • Government of the State of Michoacán
  • World Wildlife Fund