Science at UM [S01-ep22]: Plant protection products: what impact do they have on biodiversity?

[Podcast] - Published on May 27, 2022 in Entrepreneurship, Science-Society

This week on A l’UM la science, Wilfried Sanchez, Deputy Scientific Director atIfremer, presents the findings of the joint scientific study conducted by INRAE and Ifremer on the impact of plant protection products on biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Today we take you to the roots of biodiversity erosion, if we can still talk about erosion, given that the figures themselves point to collapse. In 2021, the National Museum of Natural History,the French Office for Biodiversity, and the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) noted a decline of approximately 30% in bird populations in France in just 30 years. In the same year, Philippe Grandcolas, director of the Institute of Systematics, Evolution and Biodiversity at the CNRS, referred in an interview to " the insect apocalypse," with population declines of up to 80% in some regions of France. The same observation applies to amphibians, with 32% of species threatened. As for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, it stated in 2021 that at least one-third of mammal species were also endangered.

We know the causes of this erosion, we know them very well indeed, since they are the result of our own human activities, foremost among which is the widespread use of plant protection products. Every year, between 55,000 and 70,000 tons of active plant protection substances are sold and used in France. In 2020, the French Ministries of the Environment, Agriculture, and Research commissioned INRAE and IFREMER to conduct a study on the impact of plant protection products on biodiversity and ecosystem services from their application area to the marine environment.

Unsurprisingly, this report, presented on May 5, confirms that all terrestrial, aquatic, and marine environments are contaminated by these products. We discuss this in detail with our guest, Wilfried Sanchez, Deputy Scientific Director of the French Research Institute Research Exploitation of the Sea, known as Ifremer to those in the know.

Read:

Impacts of plant protection products on biodiversity and ecosystem services: results of the INRAE-Ifremer collective scientific assessment – Ifremer press release
Summary of the collective expertise (14 pages)