Insect populations are declining globally at alarming rates. The welfare implications for billions of individual insects and the ecosystems they support are profound.
Insect decline raises welfare questions at both population and individual scales. At the population level, declining insect biomass reduces food availability for insectivorous birds, bats, and fish, creating cascading welfare effects throughout food webs. At the individual level, if insects are capable of suffering — a question of genuine scientific uncertainty — population crashes may involve enormous individual-level welfare costs through starvation, habitat loss, and exposure. Addressing insect decline requires reducing pesticide use, restoring diverse habitat, eliminating light pollution, and mitigating climate change — interventions that serve both biodiversity conservation and potential insect welfare simultaneously.