A Feat for Monarchs: Mexico’s Mining Ban in Natural Protected Areas
Dedicated to those who risk their lives defending Nature, and those we have lost in the process.
Known to some scientists as the “gateway bug,” the monarch butterfly is a fascinating insect – a little research can hook you into a vast ecological network of other insects, larger animals, and the plants on which they all rely. Boasting a striking orange and black wing to warn predators of their toxicity, monarchs serve a vital purpose in ecosystems across North America for two reasons: monarchs are pollinators, and monarchs migrate.
Imagine a bird’s migration south in the winter and north in the spring – monarchs, no larger than four inches, follow the same path, working across several generations to travel up to 3,000 miles to reach their destinations. Along the way, each generation provides the ecosystem with a fundamental service: fertilizing plants with pollen from Southern Canada through the United States to Central Mexico and back.
In addition to the monarchs’ importance in ecological continuity, monarchs are culturally symbolic in Mexico. Mexicas, Mixtecs, Toltecs, and Zapotecs admired monarchs’ passage to and from hibernation zones. For these pre-hispanic cultures, their migration represented the soul’s journey to unknown places guided by instinct. Flurries of bright orange wisp through the forest, announcing the arrival of the souls of the dead to the world of the living.
After a long southern migration in the fall, many monarchs congregate in the mountain hillsides of fir forests in Central Mexico, which provide a microclimate for the butterflies to winter. Hundreds of millions of butterflies cluster in trees known in Mexico as oyameles, in some cases breaking branches under the weight of their collective mass.
Unfortunately, monarch butterflies face peril – the western monarch population has declined by an estimated 99.9%, eastern monarchs by 80%. In 2021, monarchs were listed as Under Special Protection in Mexico and became an endangered species in the U.S. in 2022. The primary culprits are habitat loss and climate change: milkweed, the only plant monarchs use to breed, has severely declined in numbers due to development, agriculture, and pesticide use; climate change is creating harsher winters and hotter summers.
As a result, it is vital to secure overwintering grounds for the monarchs’ future, including 12 climate-specific forests in Michoacán and the State of Mexico. Luckily, some of these essential habitats have been federally preserved as Natural Protected Areas in Mexico. For example, the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a Natural Protected Area in both of the states above, protects millions of butterflies every winter in its oyamel forest.
Beyond butterflies, Natural Protected Areas provide essential services to Mexico and the entire continent as they conserve the genetic diversity of plants and animals by providing habitat for wildlife to thrive, especially those in danger of extinction.
While Natural Protect Areas are a vital step in landscape-scale conservation in Mexico, they are under threat. Mexican law historically has granted preference to mining over land protection. As a result, 73 mines currently exist inside Natural Protected Areas. Within the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, mining companies extracted copper, zinc, gold, and silver until 1991, damaging oyamel trees, soil, air and sound quality, along with the ways of life of all communities living in the area.
“When I visited the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, what struck me was the remnants of mining infrastructure such as tailings and waste even 30 years after mining ended.”
Mines also expose communities to accidents – for example, in 2014, a mine in Cananea spilled 40,000 cubic meters of copper sulfate, a toxic substance, into the Bacanuchi and Sonora rivers, affecting 22,000 people living in the surrounding area and exponentially more wildlife. In addition, environmental defenders lose their lives every year while protecting their land from exploitative mining practices.
In order to protect vital communities of people and wildlife, law must favor natural protection over mining or any other major disturbance in Natural Protected Areas. Achieving legislative change on this scale requires the use of data-based evidence to demonstrate where, why, and how to conserve, as well as partnership between civil society groups to achieve collective action.
In 2019, led by Gina Chacón, our Mexico Program Policy Coordinator, Wildlands Network stepped in to protect Natural Protected Areas in Mexico. Wildlands Network specializes in connecting – connecting wildlife, communities, and civil society in order to create big-picture change. Our team started by meeting with the Technical Secretary of the Senate’s environmental commission, where Gina served as a subject matter expert on mining and conservation policy to present data on and discuss the importance of banning mines from Natural Protected Areas.
Wildlands Network then began to organize collective action by co-founding the coalition Mining out of Natural Protected Areas and creating a website to concentrate our efforts. We gathered think tanks, non-profits, academics, biotechnicians, on-the-ground environmentalists, local and indigenous communities, and many others to provide distinct perspectives, data, and knowledge. In 2019, we were invited by the Senate to discuss issues around mining in Natural Protected Areas. In the following years, we met with the Ministry of the Environment alongside our partners to provide additional data and analysis.
After years of coordinated work, analysis, and advocacy, we reached a major victory: Mexico’s Congress passed a consolidated bill that banned all new mining activity in Natural Protected Areas. This bill accomplished our goal of shifting Mexican law to prioritize protected land and human rights over mining.
“Wildlands Network provides science-based evidence for those doing advocacy. Our analyses and reports with information from the field provided vital input needed to inform changes in legislation, particularly regarding restoration, conservation of protected areas, and ecological connectivity,” says Gina Chacon. “In addition, the technical information we provided the coalition and diverse partners was an essential piece in the passing of this bill, protecting nature and its defenders throughout all of Mexico.”
This is a defining moment in Mexico’s conservation policy that puts wildlife first to safeguard biodiversity and protect important habitats for large-scale connectivity. Wildlands Network will continue to monitor the implementation of this bill and work with others to restore, reconnect, and rewild Mexico and beyond. For now, we’re getting closer to securing a future for monarch butterflies.
