I seem to have angered my old friend Nigel Maxted. A recent piece of mine suggested that IUCN’s new book Conservation for a New Era may be evidence of a rapprochement between the biodiversity and agrobiodiversity communities. Nigel begs to differ:
I do not want to dull Luigi’s spin on the Conservation for a New Era which I guess is not meant to be specific but I just think again it draws attention to the need for joined-up conservation, that is the integration of biodiversity with agro-biodiversity conservation which I believe is far too often ignored altogether or simply given lip-service only.
After a detailed analysis of what’s been happening — or not happening — in crop wild relatives conservation, and why, Nigel ends thus:
For me in a time of climate change and increasing food insecurity THE issue is how the better integrate biodiversity with agro-biodiversity conservation, not fashionable perhaps but a real priority. The McNeely and Mainka text in my view fails to address this issue!
Do read the whole thing. What do you think? Glass half full or half empty? Or maybe totally empty? And what do we do about it?
