An overview of the role of edible insects in preserving biodiversity

Abstract

In this discussion the principle is adopted that factors tending to increase food and/or income for economically marginal rural families, while decreasing pressure for land‐clearing, pesticides and intensive agriculture, will tend to favor the preservation of biodiversity and a sustainable future. The great diversity of habitats of insect species that serve as traditional foods presents an almost endless diversity of situations in which recognition and enlightened management of the food insect resource can result not only in better human nutrition but simultaneously aid in maintaining diversity of habitats for other forms of life. Approaches include: 1) Enhancing forest conservation and management by acting on the desire of local populations for protection of traditional insect foods (i.e., caterpillars in Zambia and Zaire) 2) Reducing poaching in parks and wildlife preserves by allowing sustainable use of the food insect resources by the local people (i.e., caterpillars in Malawi) 3) Reducing pesticide use by developing more efficient methods of harvesting pest species that are traditional foods (i.e., grasshoppers) 4) Increasing environmental and economic efficiency by developing dual product systems (i.e., silks and silk moth larvae/pupae, honey and honey bee brood) 5) Reducing organic pollution by recycling agricultural and forestry wastes into high‐quality food or animal feedstuffs (i.e., fly larvae, palm weevils). Other relevant considerations are that some edible insect species enhance their local environment in various ways (i.e., leafcutter ants in S. America) or create additional diversity of species within the habitat (i.e., termites in Africa). Some, as shown in studies with crickets exhibit considerably higher food conversion efficiency than beef cattle when fed diets of similar quality. Finally, there is need for research on industrial scale mass‐prodution of edible insects, for increased recognition of the nutritional and environmental importance of insects by national governments, and for increased involvement of Western media and academia in dispelling unfounded cultural biases in the Western World toward insects as food.