Latin America
Related: About this forumMonarch butterfly presence in Mexican forests drops 22%, report says
MARCH 21, 2023 / 7:29 PM / CBS/AP
The number of Monarch butterflies hibernating in Mexican forests decreased by 22% last year, and the number of trees lost from their favored wintering grounds tripled, according to an annual report from the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas and the WWF-Fundación TELMEX Telcel Alliance.
Frost and "extreme temperatures" in the United States may have played a role in the butterfly's decline during the most recent winter season, said Humberto Peña, director of Mexico's nature reserves.
Due to a myriad of factors, monarch numbers have dropped in recent years. Experts say drought, severe weather and loss of habitat especially of the milkweed where the monarchs lay their eggs as well as pesticide and herbicide use and climate change all pose threats to the species' migration.
Monarchs, which migrate from Mexico and California in the winter to summer breeding grounds in the United States and Canada, have seen their population decrease between 22% and 72% over the past decade, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said last year. The Western population had dropped from 10 million butterflies in the 1980s to just 1,914 monarch butterflies in 2021, IUCN said. Since then, California has seen a rebound with 330,000 monarch butterflies recorded in 2023.
More:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/monarch-butterfly-mexican-forest-presence-down-22-percent/
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Once these beautiful creatures reach home, they are defended with the lives of butterfly defenders, two of whom have been murdered in the butterfly forest in very recent years:
This article is more than 3 years old
Second monarch butterfly sanctuary worker found dead in Mexico
Body of part-time tour guide Raúl Hernández found days after that of reserve manager Homero Gómez González in Michoacán
A second worker at Mexicos famed monarch butterfly sanctuary has been found murdered, sparking concerns that the defenders of one of Mexicos most emblematic species are being slain with impunity. The body of Raúl Hernández Romero, a part-time tour guide, was found on Saturday, showing injuries possibly inflicted by a sharp object, according to prosecutors in the western state of Michoacán.
Hernández had been reported missing on 27 January in the town of Angangueo, in the heart of the federally protected Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a Unesco world heritage site some 180km west of Mexico City. His death came just days after the body of Homero Gómez González, who managed the El Rosario monarch butterfly reserve, was discovered floating in a well with a head wound. Gómez Gonzalez had been reported missing two weeks earlier.
Officials in the state of Michoacán said they were unsure if the two deaths were linked or related to the mens work in the butterfly reserve. The state has seen a rising tide of violence in recent years, and the region around the monarch butterfly reserve has been rife with illegal logging, despite a ban imposed to protect the monarchs, which winter in the pine- and fir-covered hills.
Some illegal clearcutting is also carried out to allow for the planting of avocado orchards one of Mexicos most lucrative crops and an important part of Michoacáns economy.
The deaths again called attention to the disturbing trend in Mexico of environmental defenders being killed as they come into conflict with developers or local crime groups, who often have political and police protection.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/03/mexico-second-monarch-butterfly-sanctuary-worker-found-murdered
2naSalit
(86,031 posts)Off all the other species, we are killing ourselves.