Restoring new LIFE to Europe’s threatened insects

Insects provide vital ecosystem services such as pest control, pollination, soil creation and water filtration. They are vital for sustainable food production, organic waste recycling and bio-innovation. Yet despite their importance, as the recent LIFE publication on protecting invertebrates tells us, 'many of them are in rapid decline across Europe due to loss of natural habitat, agricultural intensification, pollution, pesticides, invasive alien species and climate change.'

LIFE projects working to reverse this alarming decline were among more than 1 300 delegates to the XIII European Congress of Entomology in Tours, France. The LIFE Programme hosted a symposium aimed at inspiring delegates to develop future LIFE project proposals which protect threatened insect species and their habitats. Among the projects featured were LIFE Apollo, LIFE Osmo Baltic, BUZZ LIFE, LIFE Wild Bees and LIFE SPAN - just some of the 260 projects funded by LIFE since 1992 which focus on insect species and habitat conservation. The LIFE Programme also welcomed visitors at its exhibition stand, where participants could learn more about LIFE funding opportunities, ongoing projects and successful conservation initiatives from across Europe.

LIFE Apollo - a 7-year, €4.8 million project covering Poland, Czechia and Austria - helps to reverse the decline of the Apollo butterfly, whose numbers have fallen by up to 50% over the past 25 years. The project has already established new breeding farms and populations, created nearly 40 habitat corridors to improve connectivity, and continues to strengthen Apollo butterfly populations across the three countries. Butterflies are important pollinators, providing food for other wildlife and acting as 'bio-indicators' of a healthy ecosystem. 'We aim not only to have a positive impact on the biodiversity of our regions, but also to become a catalyst for conservation efforts across Europe,' says project coordinator Magdalena Zagórska. 'We want to influence EU agri-environmental policy and support other Apollo butterfly enthusiasts with our experience and knowledge.'

Hermit beetles depend on old and dead trees for food and shelter, but they too are in decline. LIFE Osmo Baltic, an €11 million project which runs until 2030, is restoring oak, lime and maple forests to create a green corridor of 3 850 trees connecting 53 Natura 2000 sites across Lithuania and Latvia. In Italy, the €3 million LIFE SPAN project, which concludes this year, has also restored insect-friendly woodlands. The project developed innovative, economically sustainable forest planning and management approaches which can now be rolled out across other Natura 2000 sites.

Bees are not only the best known pollinators, they are the most threatened. BUZZ LIFE builds on the success of LIFE 4 POLLINATORS, aiming to boost urban wild bee and hoverfly populations in municipalities across Italy, Cyprus, France and Greece. By contrast, LIFE Wild Bees is based in the remote Nouvelle-Aquitaine natural park of Western France, recreating favourable habitats using locally-sourced plants and seeds specific to each biogeographical region. 'We've shown that scientific expertise, ecological restoration and local awareness-raising can be combined to protect wild pollinators at a landscape scale,' says project coordinator Anne-Charlotte Monteiro. 'We hope our methods, tools and partnerships will inspire similar initiatives across Europe.'

The LIFE projects participating in the XIII European Congress of Entomology support the EU Birds and Habitats Directives, the EU Pollinators Initiative, the 2030 biodiversity strategy, the 2050 Climate Strategy and the Nature Restoration Regulation. Watch the video LIFE: Protecting Europe's Threatened Invertebrates to learn more about the challenges facing Europe's invertebrates and the LIFE projects working to conserve them.