Letter: Endangered Life in the Undergrowth
Posted on: Thursday, 22 December 2005, 06:00 CST
By John Badmin
Sir: You summarise the Alliance for Zero Extinction annual report on the status of the world's most endangered animals ('Frontlines of a fight for survival', 13 December). I fully support their aims, but it appears the report is flawed since it excludes insects, which constitute three-quarters of the world's species.
International conservation organisations consistently promulgate a narrow view of wildlife, aided by the media, especially television, whose output of natural history programmes is inversely proportional to species diversity " 95 per cent of programmes are devoted to birds and mammals, which constitute less than 5 per cent of the planet's wildlife.
We need a fresh approach to wildlife conservation that includes all forms of animal and plant life: without insects, many ecosystems would begin to fail: for example, crop pollination would cease, with disastrous consequences for mankind. There are many charismatic insect species (birdwings, swallowtails) on the verge of extinction which require active conservation now.
It is like the iceberg that sank the Titanic: we ignore the larger part below the surface (life in the undergrowth) at our peril.
JOHN BADMIN
SECRETARY, ROYAL ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON SELLING, KENT
Source: Independent, The; London (UK)
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