Alternare

Alternare is a Mexican nonprofit organization with offices in Mexico City and Zitácuaro, plus a Demonstration and Training Center in the buffer zone of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. For more than twenty two years, Alternare has worked hand in hand with the rural communities and ejidos who inhabit the region to conserve the monarch butterfly’s hibernation area. Alternare works to help rural communities recover their self-esteem and change how they use, manage, and value their own natural resources, with a broader vision of lasting sustainable development for the region. 

Four programs carry this work forward: training local instructors, food security and housing improvement, productive projects, and forest and water conservation, run by a team of 35 conservation specialists and local farmers. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization named Alternare the third best innovative and scalable rural development initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Organization of American States and the US Fish and Wildlife Service have both named the organization a Conservation Champion.

Protecting the Monarch’s Winter Home

On our Monarchs of Mexico expedition, travelers witness millions of monarch butterflies clustering in the high altitude oyamel fir forests of central Mexico, one of the most extraordinary migrations in the natural world. This overwintering habitat is exactly what Alternare’s forest and water conservation work protects, alongside the training and productive projects that give local communities a stake in keeping the forest standing. 

A conservation donation to Alternare is made on behalf of every traveler on this expedition, supporting the same forests and communities you will walk through in person. Visit Alternare’s website to learn more about their work.