Valuing diversity for sustainable futures: A response to Wood and Lenné

The paper addresses the claim made recently in this journal [Wood, D., Lenné, J.M., 2005. ‘Received Wisdom’ in agricultural land use policy: 10 years on from Rio. Land Use Policy 22, 75–93] that in situ agrobiodiversity conservation is anti-development. In particular, I argue that Wood and Lenné appear to have misinterpreted the human ecology paradigm. My proposition is that opportunities are emerging that effectively support local diversity for multiple conservation and development outcomes within marginal agricultural systems.