Good no, excellent news for monarch butterflies: Mexican, American and Canadian authorities have reported that in the 2015-2016 season, this lepidopteran of the species Danaus plexippus has occupied 4.01 hectares of an area covered by pine and fir trees , when only two years ago it marked its all-time low: 0.67 hectares. Those 4.01 hectares could be equivalent to a population of 140 million specimens.
Monarch butterflies, with their unmistakable orange and black wings, are an emblem of conservation efforts in North America. Each year, these insects undertake a journey of more than 4,000 kilometers from Canada to the mountains of the Mexican states of Mexico and Michoacán to spend the coldest months of the year, between the end of October and March. Illegal logging in its wintering area and the use of pesticides (which decimate the population of milkweed, the plant that its larvae feed on), have precipitated its decline so far this century.
This success of the environmental policies of Mexico, the United States and Canada is part of a commitment that the three North American countries signed in 2014 so that 250 million monarch butterflies will reach 6 hectares by 2020 . However, very far from the figures for the 1996-1997 season, when lepidopterans covered an area of 18.19 hectares. For this reason, the experts want to temper optimism so that the guard is not lowered. Measures taken to save the butterfly include the planting of 100,000 hectares with pesticide-free milkweed in the United States.
