Improvements in the successful pest management of the agricultural ecosystem and public health sectors call for an overhaul of current procedures. The availability of specialist personnel to encourage effective management measures backed by technical research is indispensable. Without surveillance, management tends to descend to environmentally ineffective or harmful practices, and scheduled routines that do not respond to periodic environmental changes are counterproductive to sound management. Inadequacies of current practices in several examples illustrate the need for research institutions to augment their participation in management and a return to research funding by unbiased sources.