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Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (Mexico) (N 1290)

Document type
Decision
Reference number
7B.32
Date
Jun 19, 2011
Source
UNEP, InforMEA
Status
Active
Subject
Wild species & ecosystems
Treaty
Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (Nov 23, 1972)
Meeting
35e session du Comité
Website
whc.unesco.org
Abstract

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-11/35.COM/7B,

2. Recalling Decision 34 COM 7B.35, adopted at its 34th session (Brasilia, 2010),

3. Commends the State Party for the progress achieved in reducing illegal logging in the property, and encourages the State Party to continue its actions to control illegal logging, as well as fires and other types of habitat conversion;

4. Welcomes the State Party's efforts to promote alternative livelihoods for local communities, and requests the State Party to implement the recommendations of the 2011 reactive monitoring mission, in particular:

a) Develop 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,

b) Further improve 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,

c) Explore options for the development of non-butterfly related tourism activities;

5. Notes that any discussion on tourism development should deal with the conservation of butterfly populations as a priority, 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;

6. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2015, a report on the state of conservation of the property, including information on progress achieved in the development of a benefit-sharing mechanism, the improvement of the visitor experience, and the development of non-butterfly related tourism activities.