Global insect decline is the result of wilful political failure: A battle plan for entomology

Abstract

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment assessed ecosystem change, human wellbeing and scientific evidence for sustainable use of biological systems. Despite intergovernmental acknowledgement of the problem, global ecological decline has continued, including declines in insect biodiversity, which has received much media attention in recent years. Several roadmaps to averting biological declines have failed due to various economic and political factors, and so biodiversity loss continues, driven by several interacting human pressures. Humans are innately linked with nature but tend to take it for granted. The benefits we gain from the insect world are broad, yet aversion or phobias of invertebrates are common, and stand firmly in the path of their successful conservation. Providing an integrated synthesis for policy teams, conservation NGOs, academic researchers and those interested in public engagement, this article considers: (1) The lack of progress to preserve and protect insects. (2) Examples relating to insect decline and contributions insects make to people worldwide, and consequently what we stand to lose. (3) How to engage the public, governmental organizations and researchers through “insect contributions to people” to better address insect declines. International political will has consistently acknowledged the existence of biodiversity decline, but apart from a few narrow cases of charismatic megafauna, little meaningful change has been achieved. Public values are reflected in political willpower, the progress being made across the world, changing views on insects in the public should initiate a much‐needed political sea‐change. Taking both existing activity and required future actions, we outline an entomologist's “battle plan” to enormously expand our efforts and become the champions of insect conservation that the natural world needs.

Accessing biological control genetic resources: the United States perspective

“…Some of these points clearly are also relevant when considering natural enemies of invasive insect pests and weeds, paraphrased here as: (1) the resources are frequently undomesticated species and populations, (2) they disperse on their own without regard to national borders, (3) their benefits can be considered “ecosystem services” for which establishing a defined value is exceedingly difficult, (4) benefits may take many years and considerable research to be documented, (5) established markets may not exist, as they do for agricultural crops, (6) the proposed solution is often found in the same region as the problem, (7) while commercial markets are less relevant in many cases, continued exchange and distribution is important for academic and public research and use, and (8) if resources are not used, they risk eventually being irretrievably lost, so their exchange should be encouraged. The issue of critical, irreversible loss of insect biodiversity resources has been addressed most recently by Donkersley et al ( 2022 ), including the loss of predators and parasitoids as an important component of ecosystem services. Not only their exchange between interested parties, but also the preservation of their native habitats to preserve this diversity, should be encouraged.…”

Genome and Genetic Engineering of the House Cricket (Acheta domesticus): A Resource for Sustainable Agriculture

“…The value of insects to life on earth, including humans, cannot be overstated [ 15 , 16 ]. Insects provide critical ecological services, including pollination and nutrient cycling, which support practically all life on earth [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ].…”

“…Coupling genome research and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing offers an unprecedented potential to rapidly improve insect crops, such as increasing nutritional content, reducing allergenicity, providing resistance to diseases, biomanufacturing, improving feed conversion, increasing growth rate, reducing mortality, and other attributes desired by farmers [ 41 , 48 ]. More studies on insect biology in the context of genome sequences are critically important to not only investigate these species while we still can, but also to inspire the world to make greater strides in conserving and preserving biodiversity and natural habitats by demonstrating their value [ 15 ].…”

Genome and Genetic Engineering of the House Cricket (Acheta domesticus): Applications for Sustainable Agriculture

“…The value of insects to life on earth, including humans, cannot be over-stated [16]. Insects provide critical ecological services including pollination and nutrient cycling which support practically all life on earth [17][18][19][20][21].…”

“…Coupling genome research and CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing offers an unprecedented potential to rapidly improve insect crops such as increasing nutritional content, reducing allergenicity, providing resistance to diseases, biomanufacturing, improving feed conversion, increasing growth rate, reducing mortality and other attributes desired by farmers [67][68]. More studies on insect biology in the context of genome sequences are critically important to not only investigate these species while we still can, but also to inspire the world to make greater strides in conserving and preserving biodiversity and natural habitats by demonstrating their value [16].…”