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 by Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature (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 (COANFOR, 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

Throughout its history, the Monarch Butterfly Fund has achieved remarkable results, including a significant reduction in illegal logging and a notable recovery of forest cover in the monarch butterfly’s habitat. This transformation was documented through forest cover monitoring conducted by WWF in 2024, which also revealed a major milestone: one of the lowest levels of forest degradation in the core zones has been reached since the year 2000.

In 2024, the Government of the State of Michoacán made a contribution to the endowment fund, which will allow for long-term financial support to landowners of forested areas and strengthen conservation efforts carried out by agrarian communities (NA, acronym in Spanish). These NAs help maintain forest cover in the core zones of the RBMM.

During the first half of 2025, the proposal to update the Programs of Best Management Practices was presented to the Technical Advisory Group, incorporating a Nature-based Solutions (NbS) approach. As part of this effort, it was agreed to integrate a documentary repository that consolidates recent diagnostics, reports, and research. In parallel, a socio-environmental assessment of the core zone of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (RBMM, acronym in Spanish) was developed in accordance with the IUCN Global Standard for NbS.

In coordination with the RBMM Directorate, the proposal to restructure the Monarch Fund mechanism was also presented, including a progressive adjustment of conservation payments starting in 2025. Likewise, the process for renewing the Co-financing Funds collaboration agreement toward 2027 was defined. These advances, built collaboratively, strengthen the strategic planning of the Monarch Fund and ensure the long-term continuity of conservation actions within the RBMM.

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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 Michoacán
  • Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Semarnat, acronym in Spanish)
  • The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Partners:
  • National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Conanp, acronym in Spanish)
  • National Forestry Commission (Conafor, acronym in Spanish)
  • Ejidos, indigenous communities, and landowners in the core zone of the RBMM
  • Government of the State of Mexico
  • Government of the State of Michoacán
  • World Wide Fund (WWF)

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.