In an alarming new scientific report, the United Nations has hinted that the world's food supply is in danger as many pollinator species are at the verge of extinction. If nothing is done to save them, the world will have to suffer a loss of hundreds of billions in food crops.

More than 70% of food supply around the world is dependent on pollinators such as bees, butterflies and many others. Until now, decline in pollinator population, or their heath was part of regional based studies, but an organization of the United Nations released a global report this week which underlined pollinators’ importance to the whole world.

It also explained the threats that more than 20,000 species of crop pollinators globally are currently facing. The report proposed some strategies that may help protect the pollinators.

The report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) of the United Nations is based on ground work by a team of over 70 experts around the world. It used some previous studies by UN scientists to make a single report on biodiversity.

More than 120 countries have approved the UN report and admitted that pollinator populations around the world are declining which may affect agriculture in near future. “We are in a period of decline and there are going to be increasing consequences”, said Simon Potts, lead author of the report.

The report has demanded immediate action to prevent the decline. It stated that there is need to understand the factors that cause decline. Global warming, use of pesticides, a lack of crop diversity and many other factors should be addressed to help slow the decline in pollinator population, according to the report.