Blogging for Change: Raising Awareness About Butterfly Conservation
Vishnusri Palanisamy Sumithralakshmiv
‘Cottagecore,’ ‘under-the-sea siren’ and ‘fairycore’ are just some of the trending social media aesthetics that have come to dominate Gen Z culture, art, and fashion.
Many of these trends, like past art movements, take inspiration from nature. Butterflies have often been a feature of such movements, representing womanhood, marriage, and rebirth. However, in addition to their symbolic value, butterflies perform an important role in the ecosystem. Butterflies pollinate over 75% of the world’s flowering plants, including crops worth billions of dollars each year. Butterflies and moths are also indicators of healthy ecosystems, an environment that appeals to and attracts butterflies is likely to be rich in biodiversity. Unfortunately, the population and diversity of butterflies in Europe and the UK has declined significantly in recent years. In response, the wellbeing of butterfly and insect populations has risen on the environmental agenda. Several international conferences have been convened to explore the negative consequences of climate change and the state of our environment. While COP 27 is well-known as the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference, this blog will focus on COP 15 and the impact of pesticides on butterfly populations in Europe and the United Kingdom.
What is COP 15 and why is it important?
The Conference of the Parties (COP15) is an international conference by the UN that aims to address biodiversity loss and halt the destruction of our planet’s biological diversity. Biodiversity loss is when there is a decrease in the variety of life found in a place on Earth. Some species, including birds, butterflies, insects, and corals, are getting increasingly rare while others are becoming extinct. This conference is significant because it lays the groundwork for global biodiversity action, complementing the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and paving the road for a more sustainable future. Nations set four goals and 23 targets for 2030 at COP15 to guarantee that biodiversity and its diverse values are fully integrated into policies, regulations, planning, and development processes. Some of the key global targets included in the Kunming-Montreal biodiversity agreement are restoring 30% of degraded ecosystems globally by 2030, conserving and managing 30% of areas by 2030, preventing extinction of known species, reducing extinction risk and rate of all species tenfold by 2050, tackling climate change through nature-based solutions, reducing the rate of introduction and establishment of invasive alien species by at least 50% by 2030. In addition to these purposes, environmental regulations exist to preserve our world from the harm caused by human activity.
How and why are butterfly species affected?
Butterflies are among the most endangered species in the United Kingdom and Europe. In Flanders (Belgium) 20 species of butterflies have become extinct and overall numbers decreased by roughly 30% between 1992 and 2007. Recent research has revealed a significant drop in insect variety and abundance across much of Central Europe. According to the European Red List of Butterflies, the population size of many species has plummeted. According to one of the European Union’s most comprehensive indices, grassland butterfly populations have fallen by more than half since 1990. The major cause for their decline is pesticides. Neonicotinoid insecticides may be contributing to the loss of butterflies in the United Kingdom and Europe. Researchers discovered that 15 of 17 farming species, including the small tortoiseshell, small skipper, and wall butterfly, are declining as neonic use increases. The compounds persist in the environment and can be absorbed by wildflowers growing along field edges, many of which serve as nectar sources for butterflies and food plants for caterpillars. Herbicides have also played a role in the decrease of the butterfly, particularly the Lange’s metalmark butterfly. Since 1975, the UK butterfly population has been steadily dropping, with up to 70% of species declining in occurrence and 57% declining in abundance. Furthermore, these insecticides have had a broad impact on insect populations in general. Bee populations in France, for example, are falling, as are beneficial insect populations in Spain and Germany.
What can you do to protect the environment?
- Protect butterflies from pesticides. Avoid using synthetic pesticides, which can harm butterflies and other useful insects that eat pests. Remove bugs by hand wherever possible.
- Maintain your butterfly garden blooming and attractive for a variety of butterfly species, use plants that are unattractive to pests.
- Keep pests out. Use a variety of flowers, plants, and herbs as borders around your butterfly garden, or stagger a few among your butterfly-friendly plants.
- Lower the spray nozzle pressure to prevent pesticide drift.
- If you must use pesticides, consider the following safer alternatives: pymetrozine, which should be applied in the evening, night, or early morning when bees and butterflies are not visiting blooming plants; soapy water, a pesticide that can be used when aphids are too numerous for us to handle without treating them; and Amdro bait, which can be used when fire ants build beds .
Final thoughts
Biodiversity loss is a global problem, and it requires global coordination to address it. However, coordinating environmental laws across different countries and regions can be challenging, particularly when there are different priorities, cultures, and legal systems. Furthermore, there is the difficulty of reconciling economic expansion with environmental protection. Several countries are struggling to strike a balance between economic expansion and environmental protection. This can be problematic because economic expansion frequently leads to increased pollution and habitat damage, which can lead to biodiversity loss. To maintain biodiversity, governments and other stakeholders must find a way to balance economic growth with environmental conservation. Overall, addressing biodiversity loss through environmental laws is a complex and challenging task. However, it is essential to address this issue, as biodiversity loss has significant environmental, social, and economic impacts. Addressing the challenges of implementing environmental laws will require collaboration, innovation, and sustained effort.