Although long considered mutually exclusive, biodiversity conservation and food security are two sides of the same coin. Although ecologists and conservation biologists focus primarily on biodiversity conservation in non-agricultural lands it has been recognised that a strictly conservation focus is limited in scope, particularly in terms of fulfi lling production requirements. This is pertinent given that the majority of the world’s biodiversity remains outside of protected areas, often in complex, multi-functional landscapes occupied by people and their associated farming systems, particularly in the tropics.