Insects are indispensable actors within global agri-food systems and ensure the delivery of myriad ecosystem services. A progressive decline in insect numbers — as inflicted by habitat loss, pollution or intensive agriculture — can jeopardize a sustained provisioning of those services. Though we routinely disregard how insects help meet multiple sustainable development challenges, a gradual insect decline can have grave, long-lasting consequences. Here, we describe how insect-mediated biological control not only defuses invasive pests and can reconstitute crop productivity, but equally delivers other positive social-ecological outcomes. Drawing upon the pan-tropical invasion of the cassava mealybug and its ensuing suppression by the monophagous parasitoid Anagyrus lopezi, we illuminate how biological control contributes to food security, poverty alleviation, human wellbeing and environmental preservation. Trans-disciplinary research and ‘systems thinking’ are needed to maximize the potential of these biodiversity-driven interventions, and thus reap the net positive spin-offs insects provide for farmers, the environment and human society.

昆虫是全球农业食品系统中不可或缺的参与者，可确保提供无数的生态系统服务。由于栖息地丧失，污染或集约化农业造成的昆虫数量的逐步减少，可能会危及对这些服务的持续供应。尽管我们通常不理会昆虫如何帮助应对多种可持续发展挑战，但是昆虫的逐渐减少可能会产生严重而持久的后果。在这里，我们描述了昆虫介导的生物控制不仅能消灭入侵的害虫并能重新构成农作物的生产力，而且还能带来其他积极的社会生态成果。利用木薯粉虱的泛热带入侵及其随后对单相寄生性拟南芥Anazirus lopezi的抑制作用，我们阐明了生物防治如何有助于粮食安全，减轻贫困，人类福祉和环境保护。需要进行跨学科研究和“系统思考”，以最大程度地发挥这些由生物多样性驱动的干预措施的潜力，从而获得昆虫为农民，环境和人类社会提供的净积极附带利益。