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.