Ecobreves – MEXICO: Monarch Remains in Danger

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

MEXICO CITY, Feb 24 2003 (IPS) - The Monarch butterfly continues to be threatened by the illegal logging of the forests that serve as its habitat part of the year, warned writer and ecologist Homero Aridjis, after reports indicated that the butterfly population was showing signs of recovery. In 2002, millions of monarchs died as the result of an intense cold wave, in addition to the progressive decrease in forest coverage.

But last month, the monarch population reached similar numbers to those recorded in 1993 in Mexico, according to the Worldwide Fund for Nature.

The Mexican government lacks a clear and firm policy against logging, which leaves the monarch at risk, said Aridjis, president of the environmental Group of 100 and one of the leading experts on this species in Mexico.

In the past three decades, 44 percent of the forested area where the monarch wintered was lost. The butterfly migrates up to 5,000 km from Canada and northern United States.