Sustainable use and conservation of microbial and invertebrate biological control agents and microbial biostimulants

Abstract

Interest in the use of microbial and invertebrate biological control agents (BCAs) in food and agriculture is increasing. Growing concerns about the impact of pesticide use on biodiversity and human health and increasing demand for products from biodiversity-friendly production systems, including organic systems have led to growing interest in alternative methods of pest control, including the use of microbial and invertebrate BCAs. Microbial and invertebrate BCAs benefit all the sectors of food and agriculture. Microbial biostimulants are attracting increasing attention as sustainable alternatives to synthetic inputs in crop production. There is evidence that the adoption of conservation biological control is increasing, although rates of uptake vary from region to region. Knowledge gaps are an important barrier to the further adoption of conservation biological control. Constraints to the further adoption of classical biological control include regulatory and resourcing barriers. Constraints include declining investment specifically a lack of financial support for multiyear programmes and projects, a declining number of scientists specializing in classical biological control, aging and oversubscribed infrastructure (e.g. quarantine facilities), increasing regulatory hesitancy over perceived environmental risks, and increasing restrictions on access to new BCAs caused by implementation of access and benefit-sharing (ABS) measures. The book is organized as follows. Chapter 1 introduces the main categories of biological control, providing a description of each type and an overview of the species involved, the production systems where they are significant, the benefits they provide, sustainable use and conservation of microbial and invertebrate biological control agents and microbial biostimulants the risks involved in their use, their state of adoption around the world, and needs and challenges related to their conservation and sustainable use. Chapter 2addresses the status and trends of BCAs, providing an overview of their diversity, their risk status, the threats affecting them and the main knowledge gaps that need to be addressed on these topics. Chapter 3 addresses the state of management of BCAs, including the state of adoption and implementation of management activities such asbreeding (genetic improvement) programmes and in situ and ex situ conservation. Chapter 4 addresses the state of adoption and implementation of policy and legal frameworks for the management of BCAs and the constraints involved in developing andimplementing such frameworks. It includes a section on access and benefit-sharing (ABS). Chapter 5 addresses biostimulants, providing a description of their use and an overview of the species involved, the production systems where they are used, the benefits and risks involved in their use, the state of adoption of their use and of specificmanagement practices, the state of policy and legal frameworks for their use, and challenges, needs and opportunities related to their use. Chapter 6 addresses options for the Commission, first considering the current state of the international institutional framework for the management of BCAs and biostimulants, both in terms of the international organizations involved in their management and in terms of existing guidance and tools, and then looking at the potential role of the Commission in improving the management of these components of biodiversity. caused by implementation of access and benefit-sharing (ABS) measures.