State of Conservation (SOC)

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January 2011 Joint WHC/IUCN reactive monitoring mission

a) Illegal logging;

b) Growth in human population;

c) Tourism pressures associated with growth in visitor numbers and heavy concentration in specific areas;

d) Agricultural advances;

e) Forest fires.

On 1 January 2011, a report on the state of conservation of the property was submitted by the State Party. The report provides detailed information on the financial resources attributed to anti-logging activities, and the current state of illegal logging in the property, as well as other conservation issues and recent tourism developments. From 10-14 January 2011, a joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN reactive monitoring mission visited the property. The mission report is available online at the following Web address: http://whc.unesco.org/en/sessions/35COM.

a) Illegal logging

The State Party reports that from January to July 2010, the incidence of illegal logging within the property has diminished by approximately 90% in comparison with previous years, due to anti-logging activities undertaken by the State Party’s National Commission for the Protection of Natural Areas (CONANP), in collaboration with State Governments, NGOs and local communities. The State Party reports that in the period 2009-2010, only 1.56 hectares of forest were lost from the property as a result of illegal logging. In contrast, the State Party reports that a total of 117.09 hectares of forest was lost from the property during the same period, mainly as a result of extreme weather events. The joint World Heritage Centre/IUCN reactive monitoring mission notes that while all logging is banned in the core zone of the property, sustainable logging is allowed in the buffer zone, which means that control of legal and illegal timber production will always remain a challenge, as preventing illegally cut logs from entering the legal stream of forest products requires a rigorous chain of custody tracking systems. The World Heritage Centre and IUCN note the mission’s recommendation that the excellent and very important efforts in place to control illegal logging as well as fires and other types of habitat conversion should be maintained.

b) Tourism pressure

The State Party reports that, under the Strategy for Sustainable Development of Tourism and Recreation in Mexico’s Protected Areas, a Public Use Programme and a Sustainable Tourism Development Programme are being implemented at the property. The State Party states that these programmes aim to control and mitigate negative visitation impacts to the biophysical, social, cultural and administrative environment of the property, as well as to promote natural resource conservation by providing alternative livelihoods to local communities. The State Party notes that a number of tourism infrastructure development projects have been implemented between 2008 and 2010, and states that a series of mitigation measures are taken to limit the potential negative impacts on the property. The World Heritage Centre and IUCN welcome the State Party’s efforts to promote alternative livelihoods for local communities, and note the mission’s recommendation that non-butterfly related tourism opportunities be developped, and efforts to improve the visitor experience further strengthened through appropriate signage on hiking trails, trail maintenance, and signage at hibernation viewing points to explain the World Heritage status of the area and the Outstanding Universal Value of the Monarch butterfly migration phenomenon. They also note that any discussion of tourism development should put the needs of the butterflies first, considering that high tourist numbers and poorly regulated visitation could potentially pose a threat to the butterflies by causing the degradation of their overwintering environment. They further note that the mission also recommends that the State Party develop a clear and transparent benefit-sharing mechanism, in order to ensure that any tourism revenue is distributed more equitably, and to clarify how all communities located within the property and its buffer zones are compensated for their efforts to conserve the property.

The World Heritage Centre and IUCN welcome the reported progress made in controlling illegal logging, the main direct threat to the property’s Outstanding Universal Value. The promotion of alternative livelihoods and the strengthening and diversification of tourism activities are also critical in addressing the root causes to deforestation threats. In this regard, the development of a clear and transparent benefit-sharing mechanism to clarify how all communities located within the property and its buffer zones are compensated for their efforts to conserve the property, and to ensure that any tourism revenue is distributed more equitably would be useful. Finally, efforts at further improving the visitor experience through appropriate signage along hiking trails, trail maintenance, and signage at hibernation viewing points to explain the World Heritage status of the area and the Outstanding Universal Value of the Monarch butterfly migration phenomenon would maximize visitor engagement.