Decline in bees and butterflies poses risk to crops

Populations of bees, butterflies, and other species are declining so rapidly it is threatening major world crops.

A study by the UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) found around 20,000 species of pollinators are essential to hundreds of billions of dollars worth of crops every year.

It pointed out two out of five species of invertebrate pollinators, like bees and butterflies, are moving towards extinction with one in six pollinators with backbones, such as hummingbirds and bats, also moving towards extinction.