The Role of Insects in Agri-Food Sustainability: Taking Advantage of Ecosystem Services to Achieve Integrated Insect...

The global agrifood system faces complex challenges related to biodiversity loss, food insecurity, and environmental degradation. Insects, as providers of multiple ecosystem services, offer a largely untapped potential to contribute to sustainability. This article introduces a conceptual framework for understanding the socio-ecological roles (SER) of insects, encompassing not only provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services, but also the risks and challenges associated with their use and management. Through an interdisciplinary synthesis, we analyse four complementary insect management strategies-conservation, pest and vector control, wild insect gathering, and insect farming-and examine the relationship of these strategies to ecosystem services and stakeholder dynamics, as well as the need for policies regulating insect use and conservation. We argue that combining these strategies rather than treating them as isolated approaches enhances the capacity to optimize insect contributions while mitigating trade-offs. This holistic perspective contributes to a systemic, inclusive, evidence-based foundation for decision-making regarding the use of insect biodiversity to achieve resilient, sustainable agrifood systems.