Exporting of butterflies as eco business

This work has as main objective to explain the conditions established by the national authorities of Peru for the export of butterflies as eco business that strengthens the sustainable use of natural resources

GENERAL INFORMATION

Peru is a megadiverse country, where the large variety of species is a significant indicator but this diversity is not properly used by local populations. Around the world there are more than 18,000 species of butterflies, 7,500 between center and south America and in Peru about 3,700 and 4,200 species (within its 84 areas of natural life from 107 of the world), including the species which are not yet described or discover.

The reproductive process of the vertebrates procreates few children within a long period of time that goes from weeks to two years, the invertebrates take days even weeks and a couple can produce hundreds, thousands or millions of children during their fertile life. As a consequence, the population dynamics between vertebrates and invertebrates are extremely different, that is, the speed and intensity in which the population of the species fluctuate.

Today, the biodiversity conservation is aimed to guarantee the survival in time of all forms of life of the world, where all the species are independent and necessary for the right functioning of the biological processes. This implies that all the efforts to preserve the biodiversity must be for their own benefit and their survival.

The invertebrates biodiversity in Peru is not completely quantify, is possible that there are around 100,000 or 200,000 or 500,000 species, but from all this universe of species only a few hundreds are object of a minimum effort to commercialize them, among them we can find some species of butterflies, but is less than 5% of the total registered in Peru, who has reach the internal or external market.

The marketing of butterflies in Peru is limited to:

1. Parenting as biological control.
2. Used as decorative objects.
3. Collections of scientific value.

The collection or capture of specimens of terrestrial invertebrates for decorative or scientific use is done mostly in rural areas, in regions at the edge of the jungle or what we know as high jungle, because in said regions we can find the highest diversity of species, each of them with high population densities.  The most important regions are: Loreto, Ucayali, Huánuco, Junín, andMadre de Dios, in which there are provinces that are shown in this document as a reference. Likewise, the butterflies live near growing areas (the farms) and the woods surrounding the houses of rural people.

The collection is done by people from the rural areas, during their free time (men work on agricultural, livestock, grazing, mining, services and other activities). The product of this activity is sold to butterflies collectors, obtaining in this way an extra income to their family budget for daily activities. This gives us a clear idea that recollection or hunting is not a priority for local populations where the species are distributed.

Likewise, the collectors request authorization for the collection, they declare to the Agriculture Department the amount of death specimens to be transport and they pay to the State the Right of Use for each specimen obtained. Therefore, it is a legal activity and within the regulations of the National Strategy for Biodiversity Conservation.

The Peruvian territory where butterflies are distributed is very vast, with areas larger or closer to a European or Asian country. (See comparative chart), that’s why the authorities have considered theses areas as wild management areas for species for their sustainable development, as eco-business (promoted by the Peruvian State)., areas in which adult males are collected only because females are not esthetically attractive, also because males fly at altitudes that make easy their collection while females do it at higher altitudes, mainly near the top of the trees, thus ensuring the survival of species.

Females generally deposit hundreds and thousands of eggs, in plants which are protected by the local population to ensure the business future. The average lifetime of a butterfly is 30 days; their use is an opportunity to improve the family income and to improve their quality of life.

We must also consider that none of the butterfly species are in danger of extinction, that is why they’re not on the national protection list or are included  on Appendix I, II or III from the CITES Convention.

CONCLUSIONS

• Peru is a vast country with considerable areas of forest, whose surface is comparable to European countries, therefore the collection directly from the forests does not affect or damages the ecological balance.
•  The species of butterflies are manage in their own environment by the local population where the species are distributed, thus their use must comply with the regulations of the authorities in the conservation of natural resources in Peru, Agriculture Department, the transport control and commercial authorizations.
• The butterfly business is one of the major items that the State is promoting in order to achieve the strengthening of eco-businesses that contribute with the sustainable development that benefit the rural populations from the distribution areas, if we consider that this activity does not affect the conservation of species.
• The harvest of butterflies is limited only to male samples, leaving the females in order to guarantee the reproduction and survival of the butterflies.
• The amount of specimens in the wild environment is enormous, so the farms produce only specimens for touristic purposes.
• The abundance of populations of each species reflects that none of the species is in danger, that they’re not included in the list of species protected by the Peruvian State or in the Appendix I, II or III of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
• While the marketing of butterflies does not come from arms, this does not mean that it is an irrational collection, which endangers the species. On the contrary is an opportunity to promote environmental conservation, protection of forests, the management of farms based on an agroforestry system, the work of collectors in an activity that requires no big effort and the economic benefit for rural families within the distribution range of butterflies.