Insects comprise the most diverse and successful group of multicellular organisms on the planet, and they contribute significantly to vital ecological functions such as pollination, pest control, decomposition, and maintenance of wildlife species. Yet their rapid decline in recent decades jeopardizes a sustained provisioning of those services and threatens a progressive collapse of natural and human-dominated ecosystems alike.

A new scientific review of insect numbers startlingly warns that bees, ants and beetles are disappearing eight times faster than mammals, birds, or reptiles. Meanwhile, some species, such as houseflies and cockroaches, are likely to boom. This should concern not only professionals in agriculture, but also professionals in health and development, as this “plague of pests” could have many detrimental impacts on human health and livelihoods—especially those of the poor, who are the most vulnerable. This threat could undermine decades of hard-earned progress in development.

Insect-based ecosystem services such as pollination and pest suppression are essential for agriculture and for the people whose livelihoods depend on it. Insect natural enemies of crop pests keep pest populations in check, reducing the likelihood and frequency of outbreaks and the need for synthetic insecticides, which are known to harm human health and the environment.

Pesticides are also a major cause of the alarming insect declines outlined in the review: They decimate beneficial insect communities, including those that control pests. Unlike natural pest control ecosystem services, they also cost money—a burden for resource-constrained farmers in developing countries.

The development of insecticide resistance by pest species is a key part of this destructive dynamic. It is likely to further worsen the situation, making insecticides more expensive and possibly more toxic to humans, other organisms, and the environment. Our recent study describes a feedback loop: If the ecosystem service of biocontrol is effective at crop level, a farmer may refrain from using pesticides, allowing the natural pest enemies to thrive. But if insecticide use is indiscriminate, then natural enemies may not be effective, and their life cycle may be disrupted—ultimately destroying the biocontrol service they provide. In other words, farmers can develop a “lock-in” syndrome where continued heavy spraying is necessary to compensate for the missing beneficial insects that this same spraying has caused, a syndrome Weddle et al. (2009) describe as a “pesticide treadmill”.

More alarming, the insect crisis is just one among a number of related threats. This is not surprising because the challenges today’s world faces, as well as their many underlying drivers, are interlinked. A recent report from the Institute for Public Policy Research warns of a potentially deadly combination of factors. These include climate change, mass loss of species, topsoil erosion, deforestation, and acidifying oceans, which are driving a complex, dynamic process of environmental destabilization that has reached critical levels. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s new report State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture concludes that the plants, animals, and microorganisms that are the bedrock of food production are in decline, based on data gathered in 91 countries. If these critical species are lost, it “places the future of our food system under severe threat.” Again, the report identifies that land-use changes, pollution, and climate change as causes of biodiversity loss.

What can researchers, development practitioners, and policy makers do? More attention should be directed toward three main areas, with efforts pursued simultaneously:

1. Protect natural and semi-natural habitats in agricultural landscapes and beyond . The diverse values of these habitats—in providing a wide array of ecosystem services themselves as well as supporting organisms that provide ecosystem services—should be made more “visible” and accounted for in decision-making. Valuation and modeling studies are needed to help us understand where their benefits lie. This includes both economic and other benefits, who receives them (e.g., men and women), and what likely interactions and inter-connections exist among species and across land use types. More research-for-development work is needed to improve the governance of commons, where many of the crucial habitats exist. More urgently, researchers must be more proactive and effective at communicating their findings to the public, governments, NGOs, and all stakeholders. Innovations in technology and policies need to go hand in hand with public campaigns aimed at influencing cultural change.
2. Accelerate the adoption of biodiversity-friendly practices. While becoming more common, these are not growing quickly enough, as the FAO report notes. CGIAR researchers are well positioned to explore this topic and use their work to inform the public and policy makers on existing obstacles and the technological and institutional innovations needed to accelerate the adoption of ecologically-based practices by farmers at all scales, in developing and developed countries.
3. Boost support to farmers at all scales on judicious use of synthetic insecticides and other agro-chemicals. The overuse of synthetic insecticides is driven by a number of factors: Current prices that do not account for the social and environmental costs associated with their use; distorting policies; lack of knowledge and awareness; and an absence of available technical support and insurance or other risk management tactics. Both regulatory and market-based interventions are needed to reduce farmers’ reliance on insecticide-based control in the long run.

Together, these three areas represent a small but necessary step toward addressing the threat posed by the dangerous decline in insect populations. Managing the crop pest problem—so that pests and natural enemies co-exist, sustaining a balance resilient to environmental shocks—is our first line of defense. If this line holds, we can avoid trying to “control” the problem and many of the negative social, economic, and environmental consequences associated with our interventions. This same approach can be applied to many other wicked problems we face (ranging from local groundwater depletion to global challenges such as climate change)—and ultimately can help to achieve a bold sustainability transformation.

Wei Zhang is a Research Fellow with IFPRI’s Environment and Production Technology Division (EPTD) and the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). This post first appeared on SciDev.net.