Almost half a century ago, in 1962, the American writer and biologist Rachel Carson published a short work of non-fiction called Silent Spring. Over the next decade, it not only became a bestseller, but achieved something very rare in the book trade: it changed the world.

At the 11th hour, people on both sides of the Atlantic woke up to the dangers posed to wildlife by the widespread use of agricultural pesticides. Following a major campaign, the British and US governments banned the most dangerous of them, DDT. The populations of insects, wildflowers, mammals and birds  some, like the peregrine, on the brink of extinction in both North America and Britain  began to make a comeback. The environmental movement had, in the nick of time, saved the day.

Except that it hadn't. DDT may have been banned (at least in the developed world), but the drive towards higher farming yields, and the incessant clamour for cheap food, continued. Over the past 50 years, this laid waste to the countryside, which has now turned, in some parts of Britain, into little more than a food factory. Because of this, and other threats such as climate change and alien species, our native wildlife is now in even deeper trouble than before.

So the appearance of Silent Summer  a doorstop of a book, whose title deliberately echoes Carson's apocalyptic warning  is timely. An impassioned foreword, from David Attenborough, hails the book as "a benchmark . . . invaluable and irreplaceable". Ironically the problem we face has become so serious, and the issues so wide-ranging, that today not one, but more than 50 people, have been involved in its authorship. Together, they have contributed 36 chapters totalling well over a quarter of a million words.

Sandwiched between an introduction and conclusion from its distinguished editor, Norman Maclean, Silent Summer is in three parts. The first 10 chapters outline the various factors driving changes in Britain's wildlife. These range from climate change, through the devastating effects of many plant and animal introductions to Britain and Ireland, to habitat changes such as urbanisation, and of course agriculture. Other chapters cover less universal but still important factors, such as the management of land for game shooting and the impact of trends in recreation angling.

The second and by far the shortest section covers conservation in action: not just in Britain and Ireland, but also, rather bizarrely, in the UK's overseas territories, presumably because our government is responsible for environmental policies there. But the real substance of the book is provided by the third and final section: 21 case histories of the past, present and future status of plant and animal groups and their habitats. These range from our familiar mammals and birds to less well-known groups such as riverflies, hemiptera (sucking bugs to you and me) and molluscs.

The general reader might find it odd that more than half the chapters deal with insects and other invertebrates. But this is robustly defended on the grounds that, to quote the cover blurb, the recent rapid declines in our insect populations "must [eventually] have knock-on effects for other animals, especially higher-profile groups such as birds and mammals". In other words, look after the beetles, and the barn owls will look after themselves.

Of course it's not as simple as that, as the authors readily acknowledge. Time and again they write about the loss of key species and their habitats; an insidious process which threatens to change the very nature of our relationship with the natural world. For if we lose the bumblebees and the cuckoos, the hedgerows and the hay meadows, can we still call what remains "the countryside"?

The editor and authors of this thoughtful and comprehensive work have not only carried out remarkably detailed research and analysis, but have also suggested what might be done to solve the urgent problems we, and the wildlife, are facing. But as we know to our cost, successive governments and world leaders have shown themselves both unwilling and incapable of taking genuine, long-term and effective action.

Unfortunately it is highly unlikely that Silent Summer will have the impact of its predecessor. In the early 60s, when Carson's book appeared, it was still possible for a single writer to gather up the evidence and present it in a form the non-expert reader could understand. The world has become a lot more complicated since, and the size and technical complexity of this new volume may mean that it struggles to reach the audience it deserves.

In years to come, it will be of little comfort to know that we had many of the solutions in our own hands, only to see them vanish into the white noise of the modern world. The clock is ticking inexorably towards midnight, and although it pains me to say so, it may now indeed already be too late to save our precious wildlife.

Stephen Moss's The Bumper Book of Nature is published by Square Peg.