Papalotzin Presentation

The Monarch Butterfly: an amazing and endangered journey.

For the first time, the man follows the Monarch Butterfly.

The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) presents a surprising migratory phenomenon that is unique in the world. In the month of November, millions of butterflies coming from all over North America (Canada, the United States and Mexico) are concentrated in a few square kilometers in the Mexican states of Michoacán and the State of Mexico. There they hibernate from November to March, then begin their return back to the places of the North from where they came.

The places of hibernation have very concrete conditions which make them adequate for the wintry survival of the butterfly. The fact that the butterfly groups together for its hibernation, in such a reduced space, makes that these places are essential for the butterfly’s conservation and that any environmental degradation of them can result in the monarch’s extinction.

Concerned with the problem of environmental degradation that affects the forests where the butterflies hibernate, the “Papalotzin” Project proposes to make it known in the three countries where the trip takes place.

Degradation of the forest, due to the legal and illegal felling of trees, threatens the butterfly’s preservation in our forests probably with its extinction. In turn, the felling of trees is largely produced by the lack of economic alternatives for the inhabitants of the area. In only fifteen years (between 1984 and 1999) almost half of the forest within the reserve zone has been degraded.

Some organizations, in collaboration with the authorities, have elaborated programs to incite the forest’s conservation. For example, the Monarch Conservation Fund, patronized by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), is based on a plan of economic incentives for the communities of the affected zones.

Likewise, “Papalotzin” is a symbol of the overlapping interests that the three countries share, as much environmental issues as others; and the necessary cooperation in order to overcome the problems affecting the three. The conservation of a common patrimony, like the one of the monarch butterfly, could become an emblem of new eras of collaboration. Within this spirit, we propose to invite pilots from the three countries so that they may fly with the “Papalotzin”.

[Back]

The man follows the Monarch Butterfly

For the first time people will fly together with the monarch butterflies, following their mythic annual pilgrimage from Canada to Mexico.

A series of programs produced in digital video and an Internet website to transmit the migratory phenomenon of the monarch butterfly with a novel and fantastic focus, where we show the breathtaking geography and natural wonders of Mexico, the United States and Canada.

Such an original perspective of documenting this natural marvel from an ultra-light plane, catches the attention of spectators and creates consciousness about the importance of conserving the forests that are necessary for these butterflies to subsist.

The mini-series is the proposal to show from the air, with two ultra-light planes, the different stages of this incredible and long journey that these small creatures carry out.

The transmission of these videos through the Internet and television will be an invitation so that the public all over the planet will participate by sending donations destined to create a fund for the conservation of the monarch butterfly.