In economic terms, insect pollination has been estimated to be worth roughly 10% of the world’s agricultural production used for human food supply [6]. In fact, one-third of the agricultural products we consume comes from plants that are at least partially dependent on pollinators [7]. Among these, there are some plant species whose survival fully depends on animal pollination. One example for all: without pollinators, we would have to live without chocolate [8]! This goes together with the fact that pollination is extremely important for the general maintenance of plant biodiversity and, therefore, functional ecosystems.

Apart from pollination, insects influence the environment in other significant ways, of which we are sometimes unaware. One above all is their contribution in the decomposition of organic matter, which is key to the nutrient cycle [9]. Furthermore, insects are at the base of the food chain, constituting nourishment for birds and other animals. Last but not least, some insect species play a major role in controlling crop pests [5].

Over the past 30 years, a decline of more than 75% in flying insect biomass was observed [10]. There are multiple reasons explaining this decline: agricultural intensification and climate change – which are, in fact, interconnected – are among the main reasons [11]. These can be more specifically framed in terms of deforestation and urbanisation (habitat destruction) and extensive usage of pesticides [12, 13]. A study performed on honeybees showed, in particular, that certain kinds of pesticides cause long-term toxicity, which should be better evaluated by routine risk-assessment, taking into account the chronic exposure of wild animals to these substances [14, 15].

In the case of mass pollinator extinction, crop production would reduce by 5-8% [9, 10]. This would have a high impact on land demand for agricultural purposes, and, consequently, on global environmental change [10]. Specifically, the preservation of wild pollinators is key. In fact, studies suggest that an uncontrolled increase in beekeeping would have negative repercussions on the biodiversity of wild pollinators to the extent of affecting their functioning in natural ecosystems and reducing the overall pollination efficiency [16].