 Throughout history, people have had to fight insect pests to reduce diseases, minimize food losses, protect agricultural trade, or simply to avoid the nuisance of stinging, biting and buzzing bugs. Insect pest control is usually implemented locally in individual fields or properties. However, these uncoordinated efforts often prove inefficient because insects move from host to host, irrespective of ownership. Pest control that is limited to individual localities is both temporary and unsustainable since it only suppresses a proportion of the targeted pest population. Pests from nearby untreated areas remain unscathed and thus can re-enter the treated area. The damage continues and people have little choice but to apply control measures again and again to protect their livelihoods. Area-wide pest management provides a more cost-effective and sustainable approach. It calls for targeting simultaneously the entire pest population and allows the proactive coordination of control measures when the pest is most vulnerable rather than reacting when it nears damage levels. This way pest populations can be contained at low levels for longer periods. Having lower pest density also means that pest management methods can be integrated that are less reliant on insecticides such as beneficial insects and sanitation and that address ecological and environmental concerns such as insects becoming resistant to pesticides. Another such method is the sterile insect technique which is a species-specific type of birth control for insects. The technique relies on rearing, sterilizing and then systematically releasing male insects which seek out and mate with fertile wild females that as a result produce no offspring. Area-wide pest management requires the active and informed commitment of numerous stakeholders and even of whole communities. Only through this commitment is it possible to achieve the effective, sustainable and environmentally friendly control of insect pests needed to ensure global food security, prevent disease and protect our environment.