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Monarch butterfly protection failing, expert says

One of the world's greatest wildlife spectacles is under threat because environmental projects to protect the monarch butterfly are failing, a leading expert has warned.

The flight of clouds consisting of millions of the orange and black butterflies migrating thousands of kilometers across North America to the mountains of Mexico is considered one of the great natural wonders of the world.

Scientists have warned for years that the butterflies are under threat because genetically modified crops are destroying the weeds and flowers they feed on and lay eggs in, and illegal logging is decimating their winter habitat high in the Mexican mountains.

Lincoln Brower, who has been studying the species for more than half a century, claims a Mexican government scheme to protect the forests where the butterflies spend the winter is failing. He will visit Britain later this month to draw attention to the problems he has observed.

"The illegal logging has not only accelerated; it has become a lot more intense, with dozens, up to hundreds, of people involved in big logging operations," he said.

As well as research showing 44 percent of the forest in the wintering areas had been thinned, degraded or removed since 1971, Brower said on a trip to the region this year he was informed of a "massive kill-off" where the monarchs had returned to a badly damaged part of the forest.

The butterflies rely on the canopy to be their "umbrella and blanket" and protect them from the winter rains and sub-zero temperatures.

"If you even thin those forests you're degrading their over-winter habitat, then they start freezing to death -- they get wet and they really freeze easily," Brower said.

Alfonso Ramos, federal prosecutor of environment for the Mexican government, said: "The Mexican state is trying to reduce the problem of illegal logging. However, there are organized gangs that create conflict in the forests by cutting trees illegally. We have even created security committees to protect these areas."
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