Biodiversity 

It’s no exaggeration to say that as pesticides are continuing to be used, it is helping to destroy the natural world.

The catastrophic decline in insect numbers, 80% drop in the last 30 years, is almost certainly in part due to pesticide use. 

 

Biodiversity is fundamental to the planet. Mammals could disappear and little would change. However, without invertebrates all life is threatened. 

 

 

Pesticides are poisons and unfortunately they can harm more than what they originally aim to control. They are toxic and have a major impact on biodiversity, driving short-term toxic effects on directly exposed organisms and long-term effects via changes to habitats and the food chain.

 

In 2020, Balerno became Pesticide Free and in the same year over 80% of Balerno residents reported seeing an increase of bees and butterflies and many other kinds of biodiversity in the area!

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In 1962, Rachel Carson’s best-selling book Silent Spring drew international attention to the environmental contamination by pesticides, particularly the insecticide DDT, and discusses the loss of several bird species due to accumulation of pesticides in their tissues. 

 

Birds are negatively affected by Pesticides as they may kill off earthworms, which can in turn reduce populations of the birds and mammals that feed on them. Pesticides also endanger bird populations by reducing their habitat.

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