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Monarch Butterfly Fund

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

Factsheet
Context
Achievements
Allies
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

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

    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 second half of 2024, management actions outlined in the best management practices programs for conservation were carried out. Agrarian communities submitted their annual reports to Conafor for evaluation.
    In 2025, the Monarch Butterfly Fund will celebrate 25 years of supporting forest communities in the RBMM’s core zones in the protection of their forests. To commemorate its first two decades of operation, the Monarch Butterfly Fund coordinated the production of the documentary “Fondo Monarca: 20 Years of Synergy for Conservation” to recognize the efforts of those who make this project possible. In addition, a multimedia tool was developed using ArcGIS StoryMaps to visually and interactively communicate the project’s achievements.

    The project’s accomplishments are the result of coordinated work between the federal environmental authority, the governments of the State of Mexico and Michoacán, FMCN, WWF, ejidos, Indigenous communities, and forest resource owners who collaborate in the operation of the Monarch Butterfly Fund and the Matching Funds to increase payments per hectare conserved in the RBMM core zone.

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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
    • 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