Insect populations declining at a rate of nearly 1% per year
Insect populations declining at a rate of nearly 1% per year
Insect populations are declining worldwide at a rate of almost 1% per year. This decline is alarming. Insects play a crucial role in pollinating crops, controlling crop pests and maintaining soil fertility.
All over the world, insect populations are declining. The impacts of climate change, combined with chemical pesticide use, habitat destruction, and lack of food source diversity are only some of the issues that insect species are struggling to adapt to.
There was the infamous study from Germany in 2017 which found that insect populations had apparently declined by 75% in 30 years, and the article in this post estimates that bee and hoverfly species in the UK have dropped by 25% compared to the 1980s. But data is scarce even in wealthy countries, and historical data in developing nations is all but nonexistent. That means we just don't know exactly how much insect populations are struggling, but what we do know looks pretty bad.