Animal pollinators are crucial for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem functioning, and human well-being. However, despite the support of various EU and national initiatives and the widely recognised benefits of pollination, many of the pressures on pollinators continue unabated. This has resulted in growing evidence of localised but significant pollination service deficit in crop pollination, as well as concerns that other communities may be approaching tipping points as key species decline. Because of the critical role that pollination plays in supporting diverse plant communities and, by extension, the animals that depend upon them, such losses may have significant impacts on wider ecosystems and ecosystem services, with further consequences for human societies.  

Demand for animal-pollinated crops has led to significant intensification of production in many world regions. A major challenge in implementing effective pollinator conservation is engaging this diverse range of actors collectively. Measuring the values of pollinators and pollination has often been proposed as a key step towards addressing this problem by engaging actors in conservation.