The subject of Nature's Matrix is conservation of biodiversity, but it differs from other books by proposing a radically new approach based on recent advances in the science of ecology plus certain political realities. The analysis is based on the linking of three key political issues that are intimately related, yet often treated in isolation. The first is the crisis of biodiversity loss, universally acknowledged as a major contemporary problem. The second has to do with food and agriculture, a crisis issue for the past two decades. The third is the political unrest in rural areas, engendered most recently by a collapse in rural product markets, resulting in massive rural-urban and international migration. This book shows how these three issues are interrelated in complex ways, focusing on the need to understand that interrelationship for the generation of effective conservation programs. These ideas challenge some in the conservation community since they are at odds with the major trends of some of the large conservation organizations that emphasize targeted land purchases of protected areas. They argue that recent advances in ecological research make such a general approach anachronistic and call, rather, for solidarity with the small farmers around the world who are currently struggling to attain food sovereignty.

Ivette Perfecto is Professor of Natural Resources at the University of Michigan. John Vandermeer is Asa Gray University Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan. Angus Wright is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Studies at California State University Sacramento.