Although the insect trade is a multi-billion dollar industry globally, it’s still a relatively unknown
concept in South Africa. It is important that you purchase products using insects that are sustainably
bred. Below you will find some literature that has been published on the subject that will hopefully
help inform you on the many benefits of sustainable breeding projects.
Butterflies: big, beautiful and bountiful?
The world's largest butterflies, Birdwings, are being farmed or 'ranched' by
villagers in Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya to provide economic incentives to
landowners to conserve valuable virgin tropical forest.
Classified as a renewable natural resource in PNG, butterflies are collected extensively to be sold
to collectors, naturalists, scientists and artists around the world. Most are in no danger of
extinction but in the case of the Queen Alexandra's Birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) and
other birdwing butterflies, destruction of their habitat from extensive logging and expansion of oil
plantations has led to declining numbers and the government now requires that these species are
bred to supplement remaining populations.
To 'ranch' the butterflies, villagers plant flower gardens to provide nectar sources that will attract
adults and provide food for caterpillars. The chrysalides are then collected to obtain first class
adults for sale.
The PNG government has allowed the Insect Farming & Trading Agency (IFTA) to help one
village grow and sell the Goliath Birdwing (the second largest butterfly in the world) and for
other programmes to be established for the Meridionalis Birdwing and the Paradise Birdwing.
Eventually the PNG government hopes to be able to allow villagers to ranch and sell about 100
specimens per year to the IFTA.
Overall, the IFTA sells and exports over $400,000 worth of PNG insects: butterflies make up a
large percentage of this revenue but stick and leaf insects and some of the large, spectacular
beetles are also in demand. Many villagers
make hundreds of dollars a year in a country
where there is still relatively low formal
employment (~15%). This well-paid trade has
all but halted the black market trade in insects
especially as all exports have to be issued with
a permit. This is not only so that the Agency
can control the market and keep prices stable
but also to ensure that maximum revenue is
returned to the villagers.
A similar scheme has been initiated in Irian Jaya where more than 1,000 families benefit from
selling butterflies and over 60% of the earnings from the exported insects are given back to the
communities. Through the success of these agencies, villagers have come to realize the
importance of the forest as habitat for the insects they collect and as a source of income.
Without the increasing export trade in insects, villagers would clear the forests in order to plant
cash crops. Conservation of the forest also helps to preserve the rich biodiversity of flora and
fauna including over 3000 species of orchid and most of the world's birds-of-paradise and bower
bird species.
Breeding Butterflies to Save Butterflies
Larry Orsak
Director, Christensen Research Institute
P.O. Box 305, Madang, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Tropical nuts? Eco-tourism? Sorry. Raising or collecting
insects to sell is the only incentive some indigenous
peoples have to save their tropical forests. Will you
support them?
You probably know that virgin tropical forests are declining at an alarming rate -- over half have been
cleared in the last 40 years. And you may be aware that up to 2/3rds of all living species are tropical -- an
immense wildlife storehouse that contains untold medicines and other products for our future. The case for
saving tropical forests is clear. Many support this by buying "products of the rainforest," or helping
conservation organisations working in tropical nations.
In the face of all this, collecting or buying tropical butterflies seems nothing less than a way to speed up
their extinction. Right?
Wrong! Those who equate killing butterflies with destroying butterflies don't know much about butterflies,
the tropics, or what strategies have gotten people in developing countries to save their forests. The fact is,
buying tropical insects for your collection may be the best investment you ever made in tropical forest
protection. This fact sheet tells you why.
Papua New Guinea (PNG): World Leader in Conserving Tropical Butterflies... by Utilising Them!
Papua New Guinea (PNG), a small nation located north of Australia, in another 20 years will likely be one
of the last 4 places on earth to still have large tracts of virgin tropical forest (1). And it has some pretty
fantastic insects, including the world's largest (Queen Alexandra's Birdwing) and second largest (Goliath
Birdwing) butterflies, the world's longest walking stick, largest katydid, hammer-headed flies, and a weevil
that grows a garden of lichens and mosses on its back. Added to this are 3000+ species of orchids, 10% of
the world's rhododendrons, and most of the world's birds-of-paradise and bower bird species.
From an insect perspective, PNG is unique in other ways too. It is the only country whose constitution
designates insects as one of its renewable natural resources (2). It's also the only country whose government
set up an entity to develop this insect resource in a sustainable way -- the Insect Farming & Trading
Agency (in Bulolo, Morobe Province). The agency started in 1978 (3) and now sells nearly $400,000 worth
of PNG insects yearly to collectors, naturalists, scientists and artists around the world. It buys these insects
exclusively from Papua New Guinean villagers (4). Most of these are collected, but in the case of the
common birdwing butterflies, the PNG government requires that they be bred.
How Can Killing Butterflies Save Tropical Rain Forests?
In developed countries, the "national park" strategy for conservation -- buying land and setting it aside for
wildlife -- worked well. People violated the rules sometimes, but it was rarely too much for a few rangers
and the law to handle.
With that kind of track record, it was natural that the "national park" strategy would be tried in the Third
World(5), e.g., to protect Africa's big game wildlife. But over 30 years ago, conservationists noticed that
the strategy wasn't working. Income earned from these national parks was largely going into government
coffers. The surrounding people were benefiting little, if at all. Small wonder: they had little or no incentive
to keep those parks intact. On the other hand, they could make money by poaching. And where human
populations were increasing and survival was at stake, it was far more rewarding to cut firewood or make
gardens inside those parks, than to leave them untouched. Think about it: Why would anyone who just
barely eked out a living, elect to leave the wildlife alone, just because "it's nice to have around?" That naive
assumption typically comes from people who have all their basic needs met, and forget that their fortunate
lifestyle gives them a unique perspective.
The International Union for Conservation (IUCN) recognised that the "national park" strategy had failed for
developing countries in its 1980 World Conservation Strategy (6). They recommended instead a strategy
called 'conservation through development' (7). Basically, it entails finding out the needs of the local people,
then offering incentives which provide rewards to help them better themselves, in return for work and
behavior that helps wildlife. Culling and selling excess wildlife is a very effective incentive. This is simply
because everyone likes a tight "cause and effect," and this incentive tightly links conservation with
development opportunities (8): the peoples' livelihood is closely tied to the survival of that wildlife
population. This explains why elephant populations were stable in southern African countries where
sustainable harvests were carried out; in contrast, the "totally protected" national park populations further
north were being decimated by poaching.
In PNG, villagers collect butterflies and other insects from their forests to sell. Or they plant caterpillar
food plants and sell the adult butterflies that develop on those "extra" foodplants (a process known as
"butterfly ranching"; touted as an almost perfect expression of the 'conservation through development'
strategy --(9)). Many make hundreds of dollars a year in a country where there is only 15% formal
employment. Villagers realise that the forest is the source of this income. That gives them greater incentive
to leave the area alone, particularly when they're shown how those insects require the forest to survive. The
money they earn is important. They need it to pay their children's school fees (sorry, education is never
free). Also, just like you don't forego arguable luxuries, such as a private car, PNG villagers don't care to
forego their morning tea, their cooking pots, and other simple items that cost money.
PNG villagers are clamoring for money. If they can't make it off of forest butterflies, they will find other
ways. Cash crops require forest clearing; logging royalties require forest clearing. Are those better
alternatives than collecting and selling butterflies?
Aren't the Villagers Collecting Too Many Butterflies?
They might if they could. But the fact is, insects are awfully hard to overcollect (10). The only insects that
seem to be vulnerable to overcollecting are those whose populations (1) were naturally very small, e.g.
relictual or small island populations, or (2) were already decimated by habitat destruction. In fact, two
imminent biologists, Drs. Robert MacArthur and Vincent Dethier, once purposely tried to overcollect a
localised eastern US butterfly, the Baltimore. They failed (11)! Essentially, their actions were little different
than that of any predator (e.g., a bird, or an explosion of spiders) that had found the population. With each
caterpillar collected, the next one was harder to find. Those few caterpillars that escaped detection actually
had a greater probability of developing into butterflies (according to the ecological theory of "densitydependent population regulation." Because the resulting butterflies were scarcer than usual, they weren't so
likely to be found by naturally occurring predators -- so the butterflies were more likely to survive and
reproduce. So the following year, the caterpillar population had bounced back to usual numbers. The
population was not hurt -- yet this was a sedentary, localised population that should have been
exceptionally vulnerable to overcollection!
The fact is, many biologists take population management concepts based on vertebrates (e.g., birds, deer),
and apply them to insects. That is wrong. Nearly all insects have far greater reproductive capabilities than
vertebrates; they can sustain far greater "harvest" rates. In short: it doesn't matter whether the 'harvester' is a
bird, a praying mantid.. or a butterfly collector!
Aren't the Birdwing Butterflies Being Sold, Endangered?
Generally no! That politics sometimes masks fact is evident for the spectacular birdwings, the largest
butterflies in the world, with numerous species distributed from southeast Asia to Australia.
In PNG, the only birdwing that is even potentially endangered right now is the world's largest butterfly,
Queen Alexandra's Birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae). For years it was touted as a 'world conservation
priority' by IUCN, and protected by PNG and international legislation. It's on the U.S. List of Endangered
Species too. And what happened during all that attention and protection? Its habitat was steadily decimated
by logging and oil plantation expansion (12). So much for the "old way" of saving wildlife. Had PNG
villagers been given forest conservation incentives (raising and selling the butterfly being the easiest and
cheapest to promote) and absolutely no protective legislation had existed, it is probable that more habitat
would survive today. Remember: "people can alter their behavior when they see that it will make things
better...."(6). All the endangered species legislation did nothing to improve the well-being of the Papua
New Guineans.
When PNG's birdwings were first protected by the PNG government (13), little was known of their
distribution. Subsequent surveys show that PNG's birdwings are often localised, but are widely distributed
(14); new populations discovered all the time, most recently of the world's largest butterfly (15). Except for
the world's largest butterfly, all other birdwings are on 'Appendix II' of CITES (Convention International
Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora). Being on Appendix II does not mean the species is
threatened or endangered. It only means that trade in the species is being monitored (16).
The PNG government has allowed the Insect Farming & Trading Agency to help one village grow and sell
the Goliath Birdwing. A village-based butterfly ranching program for the Meridionalis Birdwing is in the
works, and possibly one for the Paradise Birdwing. Now that outsiders have had their chance to save the
world's largest birdwing through legislation, the PNG government hopes to be able to allow villagers to
ranch and sell about 100 specimens per year to the Insect Farming & Trading Agency (17).
Does Buying Any New Guinean Insect Help Save Forest?
No. They have to be legally obtained insects. Only the Insect Farming & Trading Agency can issue permits
to export Papua New Guinean insects for commercial purposes. This is so the Agency can both (1) control
the market to keep prices for the villagers stable, and (2) returns maximum revenue back to the villagers.
Occasionally Papua New Guineans sell directly to dealers, who illegally export the specimens. Ultimately,
this hurts the long-term revenue for the villagers, because it saturates markets and lowers prices. Moreover,
those dealers almost certainly make no effort to link insect collecting/raising with forest protection.
Every legally exported lot of PNG insects is accompanied by a PNG export permit (each insect is not given
a separate permit). If the lot involves birdwing butterflies, they must also have a CITES stamp (which looks
a lot like a postage stamp; again, the stamp is issued for the lot, not for each birdwing individual). Any
dealer that buys direct from the Insect Farming & Trading Agency gets these; it's up to the buyer to get a
photocopy of the permits, or otherwise certify that such permits are on file, if forest conservation is of
concern.
Since birdwings have been on the CITES list since 1977, it is doubtful that any papered specimens bought
from dealers (except perhaps for very rare species) were collected before listing (thus, exempting then from
the CITES stamp requirement). Again, it's up to you, the buyer to decide whether you accept lame excuses
that specimens were collected "before CITES," or instead adopt a buying strategy that maximises
conservation prospects.
Can't Villagers Protect Their Forest & Make Money In Ways that Don't Require Killing Things?
Some conservation organizations are developing markets for nontimber forest products (e.g., nuts, fruits) so
their revenue can be used as an incentive to protect tropical forest. Also, "ecotourism" is widely touted as
another way to convince people to protect their tropical forests. Why not promote these more "palatable"
initiatives, instead of teaching indigenous people how to kill animals?
First off, there is some deception concerning the "fruit and nuts" incentive. "Tropical juice blends" whose
"forest products" include banana, papaya, and similar juices probably do nothing to protect virgin forest -those fruits come from gardens cleared from tropical forests! Second, some tropical forest areas have few
edible fruits and nuts to exploit. PNG's forests are an example (probably why Papua New Guineans turned
from hunting and gathering, to agriculture, over 4,000 years ago); these island forests historically had few
large animals that could have dispersed large fruits.
And ecotourism? It's overrated. Objective analyses by respected conservationists (8, 18, 19) indicate that it
won't be able to save most tropical forests: "only a small minority of protected areas attract significant
numbers of visitors.... In particular, the potential for many tropical moist forest sites to attract large
numbers of tourists is limited."(8)
The fact is, the world's dwindling tropical forests will be saved only through a creative array of strategies.
Different forest peoples have different options. They traditionally lived off their forest by killing animals.
So long as they do it sustainably, the results of those harvests can be channeled to protect forest.
Alternatively, outsiders from other nations can impose their cultural peccadilloes concerning wildlife use
on these people -- a form of modern-day colonialism.
(1)
REFERENCES CITED IN THE TEXT
Myers N (1988) Tropical forests and their species: going, going....? pp. 28-35. IN:Biodiversity,ed. E.O. Wilson. Nat'l Acad. Press,
Washing 521 pp. (2) Independent State of PNG (1975) Papua New Guinea Constitution, Part III, Basic Principles of Government,
Division I, National Goals and Directive Principles, Port Moresby, PNG. (3) Hutton A (1983) Butterfly farming in Papua New
Guinea. Oryx 19:158-162. (4) Clark PB & A Landford (1991) Farming Insects in Papua New Guinea. Int'l. Zool. Yrbook. 30:127131. (5) Machlis GE & DLO Tichnell (1985) The State of the World's Parks: An International Assessment for Resource
Management, Policy and Research. Westview Press, Boulder (6) IUCN/UNEP/WWF (1991) World Conservation Strategy: Living
Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development. IUCN; UN Environ. Prog.; World Wildlife Fund. Gland, Switzer. 228 pp. (7)
Amoseli National Park: enlisting landowners to conserve migratory wildlife. Ambio 11:302-310. (8) Wells M & K Brandon (1992)
People and Parks: Linking Protected Area Management With Local Communities. World Wildlife Fund. US-AID. 99 pp. (9)
Morris MG (1983) Cashing in on the insect trade. Int'l. Agric. Dev. 3:26-27. (10) Pyle RM, M Bentzien & P Opler (1981) Insect
conservation. Ann. Rev. Ent. 26:223-258. (11) Dethier VM & RA MacArthur (1962) A field's capacity to support a butterfly
population. Nature (12) Parsons M (1990) Re-establishment of the Ornithoptera alexandrae (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae)
conservation project.... Unpubl. report on a World Bank Consul. in Papua New Guinea from 1-21 June 1990. Glendale, California,
USA 62 pp. (13) Shaw DE (1969) Conservational ordinances in Papua New Guinea. Biol. Cons. 2:50-53. (14) Parsons M (1983) A
conservation study of the birdwing butterflies, Ornithoptera and Troides (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) in Papua New Guinea. Unpul.
report to PNG Dept. Primary Industry. 112 pp (15) Mercer C (1992) Survey of Queen Alexandra's Birdwing Butterfly on
Managalase Plateau, Papua New Guinea. Proc. PNG Biol. Soc. 9 pp. (16) CITES (1973) Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Special Suppl. to the IUCN Bulletin 4(2):35-40. March issue; reprinted April 1983.
(17) Orsak LJ (1992) Saving the world's largest butterfly, Queen Alexandra's birdwing (Ornithopter alexandrae).... Unpubl. report
to PNG Dept. of Environ. & Conserv. Waigani, PNG 732 pp. (18) African People, African Parks. An Evaluation of Development
Initiatives as a Means of Improving Protected Area Conservation in Africa. US-AIDS Biodiv. Support Programme, Conservation
Int'l. Washington. 76 pp. (19) MacKinnon JK, G Child & J Thorsell (1986)Managing Protected Areas in the Tropic. IUCN, Gland,
Switzer. 295 pp.
Can Butterflies Save Mexico's Rain Forest?
By Joel Simon
Date: 09-19-95
A butterfly project in Mexico's endangered rain forest typifies the small-scale projects
designed to create alternatives to cattle ranching and logging. In one poor town deep
within the jungle, butterflies have transformed how residents view the jungle. PNS
associate editor Joel Simon is researching Mexico's environmental crisis for a book
"Bordering on Destruction: Exploring Mexico's Environmental Crisis" to be published by
Sierra Club Books in 1996.
CHAJUL, MEXICO -- As dusk settles on this town deep in the Mexican jungle, butterflies dance along the
river bank and the town erupts in hot pursuit.
Moises Vazquez Cruz, 13, stalks the jungle around his family farm. Domitila Santos Flores hunts them with
her three daughters. Nicodemus Cruz, a 65-year old corn farmer with aching knees, nabs any butterfly
unfortunate enough to land near his home. "The whole town is crazy for butterflies," says Cruz. "I hope we
never run out."
What has captured the town's imagination is not so much the colorful insects themselves as the cold cash
shelled out by biologist Roberto Ruiz who comes each week to buy them. In the last nine months, Ruiz has
spent $20,000 on the butterflies. The insects are shipped to Mexico City where they are carefully
catalogued, warehoused and eventually sold to museums and international collectors.
The controversial project is part of a last ditch effort to save what remains of Mexico's tropical rain forest.
In the last three decades the Lacandon jungle, in Mexico's southeastern corner, has been reduced from
about 3 million hectares to less than 600,000. Montes Azules S.A., the company that markets the
butterflies, hopes to develop a series of small-scale projects designed to give poor residents an alternative to
logging and cattle ranching.
More is at stake in the region than the forest itself. The western slope of the Lacandon is home to the landhungry Zapatista rebels. Despite a recent breakthrough in the peace negotiations between the Zapatistas and
the government, most analysts believe that peace depends on finding new strategies and markets. The land
can no longer support another generation of corn farmers and cattle ranchers.
In the meantime, the pressure on scarce resources is mounting. Zapatista supporters, driven from their
towns by an army incursion, are squatting in the last remaining jungle inside the boundaries of the Montes
Azules Biosphere Reserve. And the state government has lifted a logging ban, authorizing the logging of
some six million cubic meters of tropical hardwoods this year.
"The jungle has no future," says environmentalist Homero Aridjis, head of the environmental Group of 100
in Mexico City. "The oil companies, the Zapatistas, the loggers -- everyone wants a piece of it."
Others are more optimistic. Ronald Nigh, an anthropologist and expert in jungle agriculture, thinks the
campesinos are acutely aware of the need to diversify their economy.
In the Las Margaritas canyon, a number of communities have banded together to produce and market
organic coffee under their own label. In the Lacandon Indian community of Lacanja, five families have set
up bungalows for eco-tourists. They offer guided excursions to the nearby Mayan ruins of Bonampak.
Nigh thinks it is the government that is blocking innovation and diversification. Last month, a pro-Zapatista
peasant group proposed a developmental program involving organic coffee and ecotourism. The state
responded by offering to fund chicken and pig farms.
Montes Azules, S.A., the company behind the butterfly project, is considering other small-scale projects
including producing perfume from a jungle fruit. The butterfly project is unique, however, because it
challenges one of the cardinal assumptions of conservation -- that rare species should be untouchable. The
project's designers argue that a much greater threat to the insects is the destruction of their habitat. They are
killing a few butterflies in order to save many.
The income generated from capturing butterflies has helped change the perception of the jungle in the town
of Chajul. Many families take in between $25 and $200 a month -- a substantial amount in this town with
no plumbing or electricity.
Leonardo Cabrera caught five agrias, an extremely rare butterfly of luminescent fuscia and deep blue. He
used the $500 he earned to buy a gas-powered generator. Ricardo Biseco's teenaged son convinced his
father he could make more money collecting butterflies than cattle ranching, so Biseco decided not to clear
more jungle land. To participate in the butterfly project, the town agreed to set 120 hectares of jungle aside
as a community reserve.
The project is not without critics. Some call the biological research station at Chajul a jungle playground
for Mexico City's environmental set. Others charge the designer of the project, renowned butterfly collector
Javier de la Maza, with conflict of interest.
Jose Warman, who directs the project in Mexico City, argues that the project's long-term success requires
finding markets for the butterflies, which in turn requires de la Maza's expertise. His company has created a
CD ROM guide to Mexican butterflies and is developing a butterfly site on the Internet. Collectors will be
able to peruse butterfly collection and order them on-line.