ABSTRACT
Agricultural biodiversity is the basis of all food, fibre and other products of ecosystems used by people, their livestock and other farmed, fished and harvested species. Agricultural biodiversity includes not only the species of direct use to humans but also all the species which support the necessary ecosystem functions above and below ground and in waters. Biodiversity means the acceptance that we are different and that all peoples and each individual has the freedom to think and to be. Ecological food production can also sustain and improve livelihoods through improved productivity per unit area and unit of water. Agricultural biodiversity is threatened by the spread of 'uniform' industrial production systems in monocultures, livestock factories and aquaculture and by legal instruments which allow enclosure of the commons including agricultural biodiversity. The 'headline' losses of seed diversity are, however, mainly focused on the losses of varieties of a limited number of commercial crop species, especially staple cereals.
