Editorial overview: Devastating locust swarms and pandemics: the same pressing need for sustainability science

Current Opinion in Insect Science 2020, 40:v–ix

For a complete overview see the Issue

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2020.08.004

2214-5745/© 2020 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Spring 2020. While most of the world is focused on fighting the severe acute respiratory syndrome, the coronavirus disease 2019 (SARS-COVID-19), massive swarms of locusts (Locusta migratoria) are ravaging crops across South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa causing a major threat to food security and livelihoods. To face the emergency of both crises, the international community looks for the quickest fixes. For COVID-19, the World Health Organization has facilitated an ‘unprecedented program to develop a vaccine and research into potential pharmaceutical treatments’ [1]. For locust swarms, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s ‘absolute priority is to prevent a breakdown in pesticide stocks in each country’ [2]. This search for silver bullets repeats itself almost invariably throughout the history of humanity and every set of new problems is solved by a new set of quick fixes, which often generate new problems in a snowball effect [3]. The cascading deleterious effects of pesticide use on the natural world and human health has sparked widespread debate within the scientific community and the broader public since Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring [4]. Ironically, while eating swarming locusts was a widespread practice wherever plagues occurred, it is now discouraged as chemical residues may pose a major health risk [5]. Obviously, it is more than ever time to escape the silver bullet syndrome, to stop attacking the symptoms and start tackling the causes, and to have a broader and more integrated view of challenges faced by humanity.

With this in mind, on September 25th 2015, the 193 United Nation member states adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of a new international agenda to address the most fundamental challenges in global sustainability and human development ([6], Figure 1 ). To simultaneously reduce inequality, limit environmental impact of human activities and secure resilient livelihoods, the scientific research behind SDGs needs to consider not only the ecological integrity of life-supporting systems, but also the underlying socioeconomic stressors that affect their vulnerability in a changing world. Because insects and other invertebrates have profound and well-identified influences on many ecosystem services (e.g. pollination and biological control) and SDGs (e.g. crop pest and disease vectors), insect research and development have a great potential to address current global challenges [7]. These authors argued that time is ripe to put more sustainability into insect research, a shift that may be necessary for entomology to remain a science of its time. A search on Google Books Ngram Viewer shows that while there is a more or less recent decline in the contribution in books of the words ‘insects’, ‘biology’, ‘genetics’ or ‘ecology,’ the term sustainability is rocketing (Figure 2 ). Combining sustainability science with insect science may help reverse this tendency (−50% in citations of the word ‘Insects’ between 1930 and 2008) and increase the presence of insects in the literature.

Figure 1.

The 17 Sustainable development goals adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org).

Figure 2.

Frequencies (yearly counts, normalized to the maximum counts for the word ‘Insects’) of five keywords – Insects, Biology, Ecology, Genetics, Entomology, and Sustainability – found in sources printed between 1900-2008. Analysis performed on https://books.google.com/ngrams on May 5, 2020.

In this special issue we provide mini-reviews of insects' utility to achieve SDGs, drawing examples from both temperate and tropical countries. The best-documented example of solutions provided by insects to address SDGs is the value chains of insect farming as feed and food. Innovative changes in food production based on insect mass rearing can be successful in feeding the rapidly growing human population, that is, mainly addressing the SDG 1, zero hunger [7]. However, it is increasingly recognized that many SDGs are inextricably intertwined so a nexus approach considering their mutual dependencies may ensure higher and more equitable benefit sharing. In this context, Barragán-Fonseca et al. [8] present an original contribution with an example of reintegration of ex-combatants as smallholder insect producers in post-conflict Colombia. Although previously overlooked, insects can help promote peaceful and inclusive societies (SDG 16).

Another well-known service provided by insects is biological control, which constitutes a tailor-made solution for the long-term management of both endemic and invasive pests, thereby contributing to both SDG 2 and 15. Biological control global market is expanding rapidly, with solutions combining classic entomological knowledge and innovations to control pests. Because this solution allows sustainable and large-scale pest control, investors and practitioners increasingly select insect-based rather than conventional techniques [7]. Wyckhuys et al. [9] show how sound research and development on biocontrol agents – parasitoid wasp suppressing cassava mealybug in South-East Asia – allow achieving many development targets such as improving food security, protecting terrestrial life, pursuing job creation, innovation, supporting a responsible production and reducing the use of pesticides. Struelens and Silvie [10] further focused on this issue to identify current and promising insecticide research topics in tropical countries that could be fostered to meet the SDGs.

Concerning the so-called ‘green SDGs’, insects support life on land (SDG 15) and below water (SDG 14), and help providing clean water (SDG 6, [7]). While many studies have quantified the ecological services provided by insects in the temperate zones, we still lack consolidated information in the tropical realm where insects are the most diverse and abundant. Crespo-Pérez et al. [11] present a broad view of insects’ functions in tropical ecosystems while Jouquet et al. [12] focus on termites, amongst the main decomposers in the tropics, in particular in drylands. Using the Indian myth of Valmiki as a parable, they illustrate why reconciliation between the termite’s dark and bright sides (their status as pests that threaten agriculture and constructions versus key decomposers) is needed to help achieve SDGs.

As vectors of diseases, insects are responsible each year for more deaths than all armed conflicts (SDG 3). A better understanding of insects' biology can be used to find solutions to address this global issue. Biomedical engineering, the application of engineer principles and tools for solving problems in health care and medicine, is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary research field with potentially huge benefits for human wellbeing worldwide. Insects are increasingly used by biomedical engineers as a source of inspiration, from flexible brain microprobes inspired by the labium guide of the mosquitoes to resilin structure studies key for human tissue regeneration [7]. Another example presented in this issue, is a control strategy tested in several countries that involves Wolbachia endosymbiont in mosquitoes [13]. These programs encompass different steps such as community engagement and partnership with private companies and local governments, which help to address many SDGs (e.g. SDG 8, 9, 10, and 17).

Another key challenge of the globalized world is to build sustainable cities. With the number of urban people projected to rise to 5 billion by 2030, sound planning, building, and management practices are essential to make cities liveable and resilient (SDG 11). Here again, insects can help. For example, soldier flies have been increasingly used to tackle food waste and now favor the creation of a sustainable, closed manufacturing loop where trash becomes raw material for new products [14]. Biomimetics is another promising research avenue, in particular for building materials. In this special issue, Gorb and Gorb [15] review how renewable insect-inspired biological materials can be used in architectural projects to optimize resource efficiency, and to promote mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and resilience to disasters (SDG 13).

Last but not least, quality education (SDG 4) is the foundation for sustainable development. Only an increasingly eco-alphabetized and engaged citizenry eager to document their interactions with nature and insects will allow addressing some of the most pressing environmental challenges. For example, agricultural systems with deficient ecological literacy tend to foster a greater dependency upon chemically synthesized pesticides [16]. Insects offer a vast array of teaching opportunities and constitute inexhaustible sources of stimulating materials with which teachers may feed curiosity. School and university courses may include strong emphasis on project-based learning with participation in local policy generation, co-production of research projects with stakeholders, and consultancy projects whereby students solve real-world problems using the SDG framework in the language of international governments, industry, and local communities. In this context, a poorly explored research area is the use of games to foster entomological literacy. Campo and Dangles [17] challenge our assumption that people mainly view insects as pests, disease vectors or pollinators, by showing, for example, that at the era of video games, the first topic associated with the Internet search for the word ‘insect’ is ‘glaive’ — a weapon in the game Monster Hunter. These authors further show that games can also be a platform for inclusive and equitable quality education and, as an extension, for supporting sustainable development initiatives.

A necessary corollary of all these studies is that if insect science wants to be more useful to SDG achievements, it should expand the breadth of disciplines that are directly involved in new transdisciplinary entomological research and make fundamental changes in the way researchers work with decision makers to co-create knowledge that will address pressing development problems [7]. A significant part of entomological research has to become sufficiently anchored in the needs and priorities of stakeholders and propose participatory and empowering principles instead of ‘ready-made’ and ‘silver bullet’ recipes. We require fundamentally new ways of bringing all stakeholders together so that parties with a vested interest, from small-scale farmers to large-scale corporate leaders, can participate in a solutions-focused scientific process for generating new insect knowledge. In other words, insect science needs to promote a sustainability science approach.

The current scale, pace, and practice of science are not keeping up with the changes in Earth and human conditions. The lack of a sustainability science approach is partly the reason why we have hard times fixing global issues such as the COVID-19 or locust swarms. We need publicly funded, large-scale scientific endeavors that bring together global expertise and resources toward a common goal [7]. A coordinated approach to develop locust swarm control methods or a COVID-19 vaccine will not only potentially save hundreds of thousands of lives, but will also help the world be better prepared for the next crisis [18]. It is more than ever pressing to incorporate SDGs into science to solve some of today’s global socio-environmental challenges. The crises, regardless of whether they concern devastating locust swarms or pandemics, demand it.

Biographies

Olivier Dangles is director of investigations in ecology, agriculture and development at the French research institute for sustainable Development (IRD) and Montpellier University. He is currently co-director of a Joint International Laboratory on Biodiversity and Agriculture shared between France, Colombia and Ecuador. His research focuses on the effect of global changes on biodiversity, both in agricultural and natural ecosystems.

Verónica Crespo-Pérez is full professor and researcher at the Entomological Laboratory in Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. She focuses much of her studies on high Andean landscapes and is particularly interested in community and ecosystem ecology, and in the natural and anthropogenic factors that determine invertebrate community assemblage, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.