What is the Mayors' Monarch Pledge?
Twenty years ago, more than one billion monarch butterflies migrated from eastern Canada and the U.S. to spend their winters in alpine forests in central Mexico. By 2014, there were only 35 million monarchs left – a drop of more than 90 percent – and their future remains in peril.
The good news: community leaders from all three countries have begun taking action to help bring monarchs back from the brink through the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge.
Created by the U.S. National Wildlife Federation, the program has expanded to become a tri-national program, promoted in Canada by the David Suzuki Foundation.
Through the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge, more than 300 communities have committed to create monarch habitat and engage their residents in educational and conservation projects, including several Canadian cities, from Leamington, Thunder Bay, Markham and Montreal.
Monarchs have declined by 90 per cent. Cities are taking action through the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge.
How can your community take part?
Reach out to your mayor or local government agency and ask them to take the Mayors’ Monarch Pledge.
Participating municipalities will be asked to complete at least three actions from the NWF’s list of 24 actions for municipalities in the next year. Cities that take on eight or more will be added to the Monarch Leadership Circle, and any city that completes all 24 actions will become Canada’s first Monarch Champion City.
Once a community has taken the pledge and specified which actions it will undertake, NWF will share best practices, online resources, email updates, social media and webinars. To find out more, click the link below.
The Butterflyway Project
The Butterflyway Project is a citizen-led movement that is growing highways of habitat for bees and butterflies through neighbourhoods in communities across Canada.