Insects provide billions of dollars worth of ecosystem services, particularly in agriculture and ecotourism. However, the wide use of insecticides, fragmentation of habitats and climate change are placing multiple threats on them and their populations are under sharp decline.
This UN Environment Foresight Brief explores insect services, threats, and solutions to sustain insect populations. Solutions include strengthening the capacity for insect taxonomy; reviving, supporting and initiating insect monitoring programs; intensifying research on the drivers of insect decline and on the use and environmental impacts of pesticides and herbicides; supportng innovative methods of pest control that do not rely on agrochemicals; supporting research on climate change impacts on insects and connectivity; and improving public understanding of insect values. It also provides a brief outline of implications for policy, emphasizing that environmental and agricultural policies need to recognize the positive economic values of natural habitats, ecological intensification, ecological networks, and insect conservatories, and governments need to provide incentives for their application in landscape management.