Xerces Projects--Butterfly Farming

Xerces Projects

Butterfly Farming in Costa Rica

Tropical rain forests contain more biological diversity than any other terrestrial ecosystem on earth. Rich in plant and animal life, but poor in economic opportunities for local people, the forests of Central America are being cut for short-term financial gain.

In order to create economic opportunity for local people and encourage stewardship of their natural resources, the Xerces Society and the Zoological Society of San Diego developed a pilot butterfly farming project in Barra del Colorado, Costa Rica. Project staff taught a cooperative of women how to raise local butterflies and export them, in their chrysalis stage, to butterfly houses and zoos that display adult butterflies on the wing amid tropical plants.

Because the continued success of a butterfly farm requires plant and butterfly stock from the adjacent rain forest, long-term prosperity for the farmers of Barra depends on local stewardship of the forest. The Xerces Society/ZSSD project unites village economic development with local resource monitoring, conservation education, and sustainable management practices that are based on ecosystem dynamics and maintaining biological diversity.

Xerces is currently developing a conservation network of butterfly farmers and purchasers in North America. The purchasers will include zoos and other public or private non-profit institutions with butterfly exhibits that recognize the importance of buying sustainably farmed livestock.

A Xerces Society butterfly farming T-shirt is available for $18.95, postage paid. It features a full-color depiction of some of the butterflies and flowers at the Costa Rican butterfly farm on a gray, 100% cotton T-shirt. Adult sizes only: medium, large, and extra-large.

Support for this project comes from The Wallace Global Fund, The Weeden Foundation, and members of the Xerces Society.

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