Does Buying Any New Guinean Insect Help Save Forest?
No. They have to be legally obtained insects. Only the Insect Farming & Trading Agency can issue permits to export Papua New Guinean insects for commercial purposes. This is so the Agency can both (1) control the market to keep prices for the villagers stable, and (2) returns maximum revenue back to the villagers. Occasionally Papua New Guineans sell directly to dealers, who illegally export the specimens. Ultimately, this hurts the long-term revenue for the villagers, because it saturates markets and lowers prices. Moreover, those dealers almost certainly make no effort to link insect collecting/raising with forest protection. Every legally exported lot of PNG insects is accompanied by a PNG export permit (each insect is not given a separate permit). If the lot involves birdwing butterflies, they must also have a CITES stamp (which looks a lot like a postage stamp; again, the stamp is issued for the lot, not for each birdwing individual). Any dealer that buys direct from the Insect Fa
