Reacción a "Reactions to an analysis of the causes of insect decline in Europe"

As a review of published studies, the methods taken in this paper are quite straightforward. Based on 82 published scientific studies, the authors could confirm that anthropogenic pressures, particularly agriculture and urban expansion, are the key drivers of insect declines in western and central Europe – and demonstrate that the impacts are often indirect (e.g. by affecting habitats). The results are not new but they help affirming that, even if the picture is complex, quite a number of studies point in the same direction.   

The authors mention a range of limitations. Some problems emerge from the heterogenous nature of the original papers, while others relate to the natural complexity of anthropogenic pressures. Namely, it is hard to differentiate one pressure from the other, and in fact, some of the original studies could not, or did not try to, identify the exact drivers.  One thing that is quite unfortunate is that the authors did not deliver recommendations based on their outcomes, as to how the drivers and pressures could be address.  

The authors made clear statements about the contribution of humans, particularly agriculture (including agrochemicals) to the observed results. This could show one or two things: either that also [the companies that funded the study] acknowledge the key contribution of agriculture to biodiversity loss, or that peer-review processes help ensure the quality of scientific papers, or both.  

The paper highlights that we are exerting multiple pressures on natural ecosystems, indicating how urgent it is to halt and reverse as many of these pressures as possible. Currently the EU is negotiating the Nature Restoration Law, which the European Commission recently proposed, and it is under much political pressure to dilute it and, especially, to remove the parts in it that addresses nature restoration in agricultural areas. The clearest recommendation that arises from this paper is therefore to ensure that the Nature Restoration Law advances with all its components, as soon as possible. Addressing our pressures on nature is essential, both for insect survival and for the services they provide us all.