UM atUM [S01-ep22]: Pesticides: What Impact Do They Have on Biodiversity?

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

This week on *AUM science*, Wilfried Sanchez, deputy scientific director ofIfremer, joins us to present the findings of the joint INRAE-Ifremer scientific assessment on the impact of plant protection products on biodiversity and ecosystem services.  

Today we’re taking you to the root causes of biodiversity loss—if we can even still call it “loss,” given that the numbers themselves point to a collapse. In 2021, the National Museum of Natural History,the French Office for Biodiversity, and the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) reported a decline of approximately 30% in bird populations in France over the course of just 30 years.  That same year, the CNRS, through Philippe Grandcolas, director of the Institute of Systematics, Evolution, and Biodiversity, referred in an interview to “the insect apocalypse,” with population declines of up to 80% in certain regions of France. The same trend was observed for amphibians, with 32% of species threatened; meanwhile, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) 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, in fact—since they stem from our own human activities, foremost among which is the massive use of plant protection products. Each year, between 55,000 and 70,000 metric tons of active ingredients in plant protection products are sold and used in France.  In 2020, the ministries of the environment, agriculture, and research commissioned INRAE and IFREMER to conduct a study on the impact of pesticides on biodiversity and ecosystem services, from the areas where they are applied all the way 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’ll 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.

AtUM , you’ve got the schedule—let’s get started!

Co-production: University of Montpellier / Divergence-fm
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Aline Périault / Lucie Lecherbonnier

Tune in to the show “A LUM LA SCIENCE” on Divergence FM 93.9

Keywords: UM atUM, Environment, Research, Science, Company