The number of butterflies in the Netherlands has dropped sharply over the past century. The cause, according to researchers, is industrial agriculture.
The scent of tulips, an explosion of colour, windmill sails turning in the breeze. Among the flower petals, however, not a butterfly in sight. Over the past 130 years, the population of these insects in the Netherlands has fallen by at least 84 per cent. But "we are fairly confident that the decline is more drastic," admitted Chris van Swaay, one of the authors of the study published in the journal Biological Conservation.
The researchers analysed 120,000 butterflies collected by collectors between 1890 and 1980, as well as more recent data drawn from two million sightings. They concluded that of the 71 native species, 15 have become extinct over the past century, including the black-veined white and the magnificent Adonis blue.
Less than two months ago, Australian researchers revealed that around 40 per cent of insect species is subject to high rates of decline worldwide: they are going extinct eight times faster than vertebrates. This has repercussions throughout the entire food chain, from birds, which feed on insects, all the way up to predators.
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According to van Swaay, the cause of all this is industrial agriculture, which "is no longer leaving room for nature." The Netherlands was once covered in meadows teeming with life; now the fields are regularly fertilised and ploughed, so much so that butterflies have retreated "to the grassy verges of roads or into nature reserves. The countryside is now devoid of them."
Fortunately, in 2017 the hectares of land used globally for organic farming increased by 20 per cent compared to the previous year, rising to 69.8 million. In Europe, Spain and Italy are the countries with the largest areas. To continue enjoying the charm of butterflies, preserving ecosystems and ensuring a healthy and sustainable diet, we must keep moving in this direction — though with our foot firmly on the accelerator.