Decision 44 COM 7B.198

Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (Mexico) (N 1290)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/21/44.COM/7B.Add,
2. Recalling Decision 43 COM 7B.27, adopted at its 43rd session (Baku, 2019),
3. Expresses its great concern regarding the death of local conservationists, allegedly linked to their work to protect the property and fight illegal logging, and expresses its most sincere condolences to their families;
4. Notes with utmost concern that illegal logging activities in the property have substantially increased and that measures towards surveillance of illegal activities have been further curtailed due to limitations imposed by the global COVID-19 pandemic, and urges the State Party to significantly increase surveillance measures as a matter of priority in order to halt the illegal logging in the property;
5. Welcomes the ongoing commitment by the State Party in implementing the recommendations of the 2018 IUCN Reactive Monitoring mission to the property; and the advances on the update of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve Management Programme with a participatory approach, and requests the State Party to submit it for review by the IUCN once completed;
6. Regrets that, whilst the Angangueo mining project remains de facto prohibited, no updated information on the status of the project and the current situation regarding mining concessions within the property and its buffer zone has been provided, and also urges again the State Party to ensure that no mining activities are permitted within the property, and to implement other recommendations of the 2018 mission related to this issue;
7. Also welcomes the ongoing trinational cooperation between the States Parties of Canada, Mexico and the United States of America, and also requests the three States Parties to consolidate and build upon measures to conserve the butterfly through these means, with a particular focus on minimizing the loss and to restoring native milkweed species in the United States of America;
8. Noting the information regarding the strategies for adaptation to climate change implemented in the property and the wider region, also notes that Monarch butterfly colonies continue to occur outside the property, and given their susceptibility to climate change amongst other threats, encourages again the State Party to consider developing a proposal for an extension of the property in order to ensure that all areas consistently occupied by overwintering colonies are appropriately protected and to increase the potential of the property to effectively conserve its Outstanding Universal Value under changing climatic conditions;
9. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2022, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 46th session.