Respect the Insects

Love them or not, we all need insects. Three-quarters of the crops we grow need pollinators; biological control, food provisioning, recycling organic matter, producing honey, silk, lac, medicines and food are just some of the many reasons why we need insects. Insects have been around for more than 400m years, their ancestors crawling from the oceans to colonise the land long before dinosaurs appeared. They have been enormously successful, evolving into a staggering diversity of more than 1m known species, with perhaps as many as another 4m yet to be described by?the science. There are more than 300,000 different types of beetles alone.

Out of 1m known species of insects 59,353 species of insects pertaining to 27 orders are known in India. According to the scientists, 40 percent of insect species are likely to become extinct globally in just few decades. My fellow agriculturist friends?agree that India is already witnessing a slump in insect numbers. Scientists rue the lack of adequate information and documentation on insects in India. The Fauna of British India (FBI), published in the early 20th century, is the only comprehensive document on Indian insects till date. Insects are vanishing from our planet at an alarming rate.??In Germany, flying insects have declined by 76% in 26 years. In the UK, common butterfly populations have fallen by 46% since 1976. There are enough reasons that we should be alarmed.

The causes of insect declines are many: loss of habitat to intensive farming, housing and other development; the ever-growing blizzard of pesticides used by farmers and gardeners; the climate crisis; light pollution; the effects of invasive species and more.?Ever-growing need and evolution of new generation of pesticides and their cocktail effects are proving to be fatal for insects.?And this leads to the ultimate debate on the modern methods of producing food with loads of pesticides.

We have to learn to live in harmony with nature-our survival depends upon it. Have a minute spared for wellbeing of the insects.?

Respect the Insects.