Charles Godfray

Science 2 September 2011: Vol. 333 no. 6047 pp. 1231-1232 DOI: 10.1126/science.1211815

The number of people on Earth continues to increase, although it is likely to peak at between 9 and 10 billion later in this century (1). Not only will there be more people, but they will be wealthier and will demand a more varied diet. This increasing pressure to produce more food comes at a time when productive land is being lost to urbanization and to the net negative effects of climate change (2). In the face of these threats, conservationists have long debated how best to preserve biodiversity.