Doctoral Training Centre, Univ of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Centre for Conservation Biology, Dept of Biology, Stanford Univ, CA, Stanford, USA.
Neotrop Entomol. 2023 Jun;52(3):407-421. doi: 10.1007/s13744-023-01031-7. Epub 2023 Mar 14.
Emerging evidence suggests that insect populations may be declining at local and global scales, threatening the sustainability of the ecosystem services that insects provide. Insect declines are of particular concern in the Neotropics, which holds several of the world's hotspots of insect endemism and diversity. Conservation policies are one way to prevent and mitigate insect declines, yet these policies are usually biased toward vertebrate species. Here, we outline some key policy instruments for biodiversity conservation in the Neotropics and discuss their potential contribution and shortcomings for insect biodiversity conservation. These include species-specific action policies, protected areas and Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCAs), sectoral policies, biodiversity offsetting, market-based mechanisms, and the international policy instruments that underpin these efforts. We highlight that although these policies can potentially benefit insect biodiversity indirectly, there are avenues in which we could better incorporate the specific needs of insects into policy to mitigate the declines mentioned above. We propose several areas of improvement. Firstly, evaluating the extinction risk of more Neotropical insects to better target at-risk species with species-specific policies and conserve their habitats within area-based interventions. Secondly, alternative pest control methods and enhanced monitoring of insects in a range of land-based production sectors. Thirdly, incorporating measurable and achievable insect conservation targets into international policies and conventions. Finally, we emphasise the important roles of community engagement and enhanced public awareness in achieving these improvements to insect conservation policies.
新出现的证据表明，昆虫种群可能在地方和全球范围内减少，这威胁到昆虫提供的生态系统服务的可持续性。在新热带地区，昆虫的减少尤其令人担忧，因为那里拥有世界上几个昆虫特有种和多样性热点地区。保护政策是预防和减轻昆虫减少的一种方法，但这些政策通常偏向脊椎动物物种。在这里，我们概述了新热带地区生物多样性保护的一些关键政策工具，并讨论了它们对昆虫生物多样性保护的潜在贡献和缺点。这些政策工具包括针对特定物种的行动政策、保护区以及原住民和社区保护地、部门政策、生物多样性补偿、基于市场的机制，以及支持这些努力的国际政策工具。我们强调，尽管这些政策可以间接地为昆虫生物多样性带来好处，但我们可以通过更好地将昆虫的特殊需求纳入政策来减轻上述减少情况。我们提出了几个改进的领域。首先，评估更多新热带昆虫的灭绝风险，以便更好地针对特定物种的政策目标，保护其生境，减少在基于区域的干预措施中面临的风险。其次，使用替代害虫控制方法和增强对各种陆地生产部门昆虫的监测。第三，将可衡量和可实现的昆虫保护目标纳入国际政策和公约。最后，我们强调社区参与和提高公众意识在实现这些昆虫保护政策改进方面的重要作用。
