| Mexico, 6/11/1997 – US Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Mexico's Secretary of Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries, Julia Carabias, and Canadian Environment Minister Christine Stewart will lead the first-ever trinational conference on Monarch butterflies from 10-14 November in Morelia, Mexico.
The conference-organized by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)-will bring together over 100 Monarch butterfly experts from Canada, Mexico and the United States to develop a North America-wide plan for protecting this fragile migratory insect, which has become a symbol of the increased social and economic ties between the three countries.
Since Monarch butterflies travel throughout North America, one country alone cannot protect them, said Victor Lichtinger, Executive Director of the CEC. Sustainable forestry and agricultural practices will help us in this effort.
Last year the environment ministers of the three North American countries signed an unprecedented agreement to cooperate on the protection of the Monarch butterfly. Up to that time, efforts to protect the Monarch had been limited to binational initiatives, such as the Canada-Mexico declaration signed in 1995 to create a Canadian-Mexican network of Monarch butterfly reserves.
The CEC, equally funded by the NAFTA partners, is based in Montreal. It was created by the environmental side accord to NAFTA which came into force in 1994.
Members of the media are welcome to attend the conference. In addition to the conference, the Inauguration, with US Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Mexican Secretary of Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries Julia Carabias and CEC Executive Director Victor Lichtinger, may be of particular interest. This will be held on Monday, 10 November, at 9:00 a.m.
The conference is being held at the Convention Center in Morelia, Avenida Ventura Puente, Esquina Camelinas. |
