UK butterfly populations have declined significantly; habitat restoration and climate adaptation protect butterfly welfare at individual and population levels.
Butterfly welfare is philosophically complex given debates about insect sentience, but even under uncertainty, population declines that represent tens of millions of lost individuals represent a potential welfare burden if butterflies experience positive states during flight, feeding, and mating. More concretely, habitat restoration for butterflies provides measurable benefits to wider invertebrate communities with more established welfare consideration.