I grew up in Edgmond, near Newport, Shropshire, and spent my childhood roaming the lanes and meadows in search of caterpillars, butterflies, grasshoppers and beetles. I eventually came to realize that the world would not function without these tiny creatures; they pollinate, control pests, recycle all sorts of organic material from dung to corpses, tree trunks and leaves, they keep the soil healthy, disperse seeds, and much more besides. They provide food for many larger creatures such as birds, bats, lizards, amphibians and fish.

It should thus be of deep concern to all of us that insects appear to be undergoing massive declines. In Germany, flying insects have declined by 76% in just the last 26 years. In the UK, our more common butterfly populations have fallen by 46% since 1976, the rarer ones by 77%, despite great efforts by conservation organisations such as Butterfly Conservation. Thirteen UK bee species have gone extinct, and more look set to follow them. In the USA, the iconic monarch butterfly, famed for its annual migration between Mexico and Canada, has declined by more than 80% since the 1980s. As a child, I vividly remember my parents having to stop the car on long summer journeys to scrub clear the windscreen, which quickly became crusted with splatted insect corpses as we drove along. Today, our windscreen are disturbingly clean. This has all happened within our lifetime; on our watch.

This may all seem terribly depressing, but do not despair. We feel helpless in the face of many global environmental issues, but we can all get involved in halting and reversing insect declines. Most insects have not yet gone extinct, and they could recover quickly if we just gave them some space, somewhere to live and feed in peace. If you are lucky enough to have a garden, take some simple steps to invite insects and other wildlife in (see below). It is astonishing how much life a small garden can support. Biologist and wildlife gardener Jenny Owen spent 35 years obsessively cataloguing every plant and animal that she could find in her modest 1/8th of an acre garden in urban Leicester, eventually recording no less than 2,673 different species, 1,997 of which were different types of insect. Britain has about 22 million private gardens; just think how much life they could collectively support if they were all wildlife-friendly. Grow a single marjoram plant, perhaps in a pot on your balcony or roof terrace, and when it blooms I guarantee that the bees and hoverflies will sniff it out. You can feel smug that you have done something to help. Now do something more!

Of course we should not forget our farmland, which covers 70% of the UK. It is my view that the move towards ever-more intensive farming is unsustainable; it has done terrible damage to our wildlife and soils, pollutes streams and rivers, and contributes a lot to greenhouse gas emissions. UK farmers apply 16.9 thousand tons of poison to the landscape every year. You can reduce your own impact and support more sustainable farming practices by buying and eating local, seasonal, organic produce, buying loose fruit and veg, and reducing your meat consumption. Better still, grow what food you can in your garden or an allotment

Love them or loathe them, we all need insects. Three quarters of the crops we grow need pollinators. We have to learn to live in harmony with nature, seeing ourselves as part of it, not trying to rule and control it with an iron fist. Our survival depends upon it, as does that of the glorious pageant of life with which we share our planet.