Monarch butterflies are dying out due to the use of herbicides

By Yucatan Times on April 14, 2015

On Monday April 13th, environmental defense organizations from the United States, Canada and Mexico asked the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) for actions to protect the migration route of Monarch butterflies.

The groups stated that scientific studies confirm the massive use of herbicides in the United States and Canada is killing milkweed plants, which monarch butterflies need for survival during their transcontinental migration.

“Mexico has made great progress to protect the monarch butterfly reserves from illegal logging and other threats. We cannot save the monarch’s migration without more help from the United States and Canada,” said Homero Aridjis, the president of the Group of 100.

Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (Photo: Google)

The petition was submitted by the Mexican non-profit organizations Group of 100, Alternare, Danaidas Conservación y Desarrollo Sustentable among other groups in the United States and the David Suzuki Foundation in Canada.

The request comes at the same time as a meeting on animal conservation which includes officials from Mexico, the United States and Canada.

The organizations said the butterflies fly through the three countries and their population has decreased dramatically over the last few years.

“We hope that international recognition of the danger for monarch butterflies will encourage greater efforts from the United States to protect the habitat of the monarch butterfly and restore milkweed,” Carolina Herrera Jáuregui, an NRDC specialist, said.

The NRDC has submitted two complaints to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeking restrictions to glyphosate. According to the groups, this herbicide is the main cause of the decline of the monarch population.

Source: http://thenews.mx/