Two scientific studies carried out in Denmark and England have shown that there has been a huge decline in the abundance of insects. The “splatometer” tests, which observe the number of insects “splattered” on car windows, show that in rural Denmark, the insect population fell by a staggering 80 percent between 1997 and 2017. In Kent, England, a similar test carried out in 2019 showed that there had been a 50% drop in the amount of insect impacts since 2004. These studies are further evidence of what is being called an “Insect Apocalypse”. Insects are crucial to the earth’s ecosystem as they pollinate three quarters of the world’s crops. Without this pollination, we may face a disaster in the natural world, which will threaten all life on earth. Leading entomologists claim this rapid decline has been caused by the destruction of insects’ natural habitats, pesticides, climate change and global warming, as well as increased light and air pollution. While the vast majority of scientific studies have shown similarly worrying results, most research has only been carried out in North America and Europe, so it has not yet been established if insect populations have fallen in a similar way in other climates such as Southeast Asia and South America.
