May 22 is World Biodiversity Day. My understanding of biodiversity has undergone a sea change since I took to and started practising the Miyawaki Model of Afforestation, and I wish to share it with you. Earlier, the word “biodiversity” meant elephants, rhinoceroses, wild boars, endangered species of animals, tigers and so on. That was because small insects never came into my reckoning at all. Or perhaps I never noticed them. In fact, the word “insects” would conjure up images of flies that fall into lighted lamps, or alates that fly around light bulbs, or rhinoceros beetles that come thudding down during the rains, or beetles. Beyond that I did not know much about the insect world.
We had nearly 400 trees in the first Miyawaki forest we planted. They belonged to 100 different species. That is, we had 100 trees. The rest were sub trees and shrubs. As their growth rate was phenomenal, I used to observe each of them closely. In that process, I noticed insect attacks on leaves, and detected worms as well as other insects that were not commonly seen. Their sizes, colours and shapes were different. That was when I realized that the world had a wide variety of insects. I have not studied Biology. For that reason, all these were wondrous sights for me, and I took photographs of all the insects I saw.
The sum total of all these is what biodiversity means. Each insect has its own usefulness, and each species follows its own distinct lifestyles, eating habits, methods of reproduction and so on. One day I happened to see a big, black centipede eating dry leaves that had fallen on the ground of my plot. Until then, if someone told me that centipedes eat dead leaves, I would not believe it! The reason: I had never seen what it consumed. All I had observed was it crawling here and there. That centipedes convert dead leaves to manure was a revelation to me. Similarly, there are plenty of small insects that land on plants but do no harm at all. They do not come inside our house either. They are born in their world and after some time go away. Sometimes they come to eat the leaves.
Actually, it is only when they disappear that we realize the loss its disappearance causes. Take lac, for instance. It are harvested from a tree. But for that resin to form, a certain type of insect has to colonize that tree and secrete that pigment. Another interesting story I recall is that of oil palms. The seeds of the oil palm were brought from Malaysia to Kerala, and sown here. There was even an oil palm plantation at Punalur. But the palms did not bear any fruit. The Managing Director of the company Dr P. M. Abraham went to Malaysia to investigate, and found out that fruits would form only if pollination took place with the help of a certain beetle. But the Malaysian government did not give the required permit. So when he went there on some other purpose, he collected a couple of beetles, put them in a matchbox, and released them in the plantation in Kerala. Subsequently, fruits formed on the oil palms.
We imagine that butterflies and honey bees do all the pollination work. But there are other insects also. But the important point is that 40 % of the world’s insects have already disappeared, and the reproduction rate of many species has come down by 9 %. After some time, many insect species may be lost irretrievably. Only then will we realize our loss. Our idea about insects is that they are creatures that harm us. But there is an inbuilt system which keeps their numbers in check. It is said that the frog eats flies to the tune of 20 times its own weight. Or is it 40 times? I cannot recall. Anyway, not less than 20 times. In this manner, Nature itself has a control system at work.
Here, in this plot surrounding my house, I have nearly 500 plants. If I take into account those outside this immediate space, there are nearly 3,000 tree saplings. Despite so many plants, I do not experience much discomfort from insects. True, I have a mosquito mesh fitted here. But there aren’t any insects that attack and cause problems. Swarms of alates do appear occasionally but they disappear just as quickly. If they fall into the water, the fish quickly gobble them. Frogs too do the same.
Thus I came to learn more about insects. The other day, I saw a grasshopper holding a butterfly. I had thought that the grasshopper was a vegetarian. It was only after I read about them that I came to understand that among grasshoppers there are vegetarian and non-vegetarian varieties. Students who are interested in this subject will learn more if they observe these insects more closely. But I don’t know how their disappearance will affect the humans.
The same can be said about plants. A lot of creepers have disappeared. We weed our gardens frequently. But before the weeds appeared, there were a lot of plants there. Spreading hogweed is a species that used to be commonly found in our countryside. It would never permit other plants to grow in the vicinity. But it is nowhere to be found now. When we till our garden plots, we clear it to such an extent that even the fallen leaves are removed. As a result, seeds of invasive species of weeds sprout. The ground that had once been protected by indigenous species like the spreading hogweed is then taken over by forests of invasive plants. If we wish to learn more about this, all we need to do is observe the plants more carefully. There is no need for formal college education. But we tend to look upon plants and insects as enemies.
Last week, in the course of a conversation about afforestation, a person sought to clear a doubt. He wanted a forest but would not tolerate even a single insect inside his house or even a single leaf on the ground. My reply was that a forest encompassed all those things. If he wanted a forest that would fulfil all his conditions, the only option he had was to fix a 72-inch TV on his wall and watch videos of forests on the National Geographic channel. Basically what he wanted was a forest without any creature intruding into his house. But insects will fly here and there. Glow worms will settle on our verandas. Can we complain? All this is a natural part of afforestation. If we do not protect them, the existence of our own species will be under threat. Already it is late. Therefore what you can do is plant at least 10 indigenous saplings belonging to various species so that we afford protection to different insects. I request all of you to try your best.