As Dow Chemical is set to introduce another habitat killing herbicide, UNESCO, which overseas the World Heritage site program said it will begin investigating the viability of Monarch butterflies that spend each winter in Mexico's Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. For the first time UNESCO asked the United States and Canada to inform the world body on their actions to protect Monarchs. NRDC delivered 50,000 petitions to the World Heritage Committee asking that it take action to protect the butterflies. A 90% decline in butterfly numbers has taken place in the last 20 years due primarily to the abuse of the herbicide glyphosate that kills milkweed, the only plant on which Monarchs lay their eggs. The decline in butterfly numbers should put the Monarch world heritage site on the "in danger" list, but first the Committee must go through a process that includes responses from the two countries to which the butterfly migrates. Conservationists know that the US is not doing enough to prevent the oversuse of herbicides in agriculture, meanwhile the international process grinds slowly forward.
