From English moors and meadows to the Amazon rainforest: land use, biodiversity management and forgotten law

If it is to have a long-term effect, applied biodiversity conservation must take account of human needs for space, recreation and economic improvement. Those who would seek to create novel master-plans to conserve biodiversity must also acknowledge that the world is not so polarized that those who would conserve biodiversity sit on one side of the line and those who would create an endless, sterile desert over the Earth sit on the other. Indeed, it is often the case that the exploiters of the Earth’s resources, whether for irrelevant, selfish or altruistic reasons, have discovered subtle means of preserving their source of wealth or recreation — the goose that lays the golden eggs. The result need not be a compromise-killing the goosenowdoes not provide long-term wealth — it does not even provide more than a meal for today. However, to discover new solutions we need to analyse a range of interests almost as diverse and complex as the dynamics which support the target biodiversity. A full and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.