Curbing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions through Biodiversity-Driven Crop Protection: Bright Prospects for the Asia-Pacific

Abstract

Synthetic pesticides are widely used in Asian agriculture to manage crop insect pests, diseases, and weeds. The overreliance on these toxic compounds negatively affects human health, biodiversity, and farm profits, while contributing to climate change. Pesticide-centered crop protection is highly energy-intensive, with product synthesis, distribution, and field application generating substantial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In countries such as China, Malaysia, or Japan, chemical pesticide use thus causes carbon emissions equivalent to those of a respective 1.7 million, 381,000, or 300,000 passenger vehicles. As the foundation of integrated pest management (IPM), biological control and agroecology constitute practicable, cost-effective, and efficacious alternatives to synthetic pesticides. These carbon-efficient measures safeguard food and nutrition security without concomitant negative impacts on human health, biodiversity, or environmental degradation. Over the past decades, several Asian countries have already gained ample experience with non-chemical pest management and consolidated important techno-scientific capacity. Yet, all too often, these scientific advances are not translated into practice. Here, we show how a bundle of policy options (e.g., carbon financing) can further take biodiversity-driven pest management to scale across the Asia-Pacific region.