His fight for the protection of monarch butterflies seems to have cost him his life. The body of Mexican environmentalist Homero Gomez was discovered on Wednesday, January 29, at the bottom of a well in Michoacan State, in western Mexico. The next day, authorities revealed that the 50-year-old agricultural engineer had been struck hard on the head before drowning. His suspicious death causes a stir in one of the countries with the highest number of killings of conservationists in the world.
In the midst of clouds of orange and black butterflies, Mr. Gomez multiplied the videos on social networks, inviting visitors to discover the sanctuary of El Rosario which he administered near the town of Ocampo, in the wooded mountains of Michoacan . Ecotourism had become its main weapon against clandestine deforestation which threatens the wintering of these migratory butterflies.
Each year, this species (Danaus plexippus) covers more than 4,500 kilometers from Canada and the northeastern United States to Mexico. Straddling the States of Mexico and Michoacan, the biosphere reserve of the monarch butterfly, classified since 2008 as a World Heritage Site by Unesco, hosts between 100 million and 200 million specimens in winter.
Forest patrols
The butterflies arise in clusters on the trunks of oyamel fir trees which protect them from rain and cold. A halt of several months to reproduce before setting out again, in March, towards the north. The survival of the species, victim of illegal cutting of trees, is also endangered by the excessive use of herbicide which deprives the insect of milkweed, the plant in which it lays its eggs and whose larvae feed.
Scourges accentuated by the intensive cultivation of avocado, the green gold of Mexico, of which the country has become the world's largest producer (2.3 million tonnes in 2019). With the state of Michoacan as the bridgehead, exports of the fruit, 70% of which is destined for the United States, explode. The windfall, valued at more than $ 2.4 billion (2.1 billion euros) a year according to the Mexican association of avocado producers, is attracting drug cartels that are diversifying their activities. Some rackete at avocado producers, others go straight to farming, increasing deforestation to make room for their avocado fields.
Mr. Gomez thwarted these mafia interests. Beyond ecotourism, the charismatic director of the El Rosario sanctuary had managed to convince local farmers to replant more than 150 hectares of trees in deforested areas, local press said. The activist had also created forest patrols that alert the authorities in the event of illegal logging.
