Ivette Perfecto, a professor at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment, has co-written a new book that offers a radical departure from traditional theories related to biodiversity and food sovereignty in tropical regions of the world.

In "Nature's Matrix: Linking Agriculture, Conservation and Food Sovereignty," Professor Perfecto and her co-authors say that such goals cannot be achieved without embracing rural social movements and local peasant farmers. This new approach to the conservation of biodiversity is based on advances in ecology science and modern political realities found in rural areas, particularly tropical regions. The book was published last month by Earthscan, Ltd.

The authors say that these regions of the world have traditionally been seen as fragments of natural habitat surrounded by a "sea" of agriculture. But recent ecological theory shows that the nature of these fragments is not nearly as important for conservation as is the nature of the "matrix" of agriculture that surrounds them.

So, while local extinctions from conservation fragments are inevitable, they must be balanced by migrations if massive extinction is to be avoided. These high-migration rates only occur in what the authors call í‚  "high-quality" matrices, which are created by alternative agroecological techniques and not the industrial monocultural model of agriculture.

The only way to promote such high-quality matrices is to work with rural social movements, the authors state.

Professor Perfecto's co-authors are John Vandermeer, the Asa Gray University Professor in U-M's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (College of Literature, Science, and the Arts); and Angus Wright, emeritus professor of Environmental Studies at California State University Sacramento.

Their theories are at odds with major trends at some large conservation organizations - trends that emphasize targeted land purchases of protected areas. The authors argue that recent advances in ecological research make such a general approach "anachronistic" and call instead for solidarity with the small farmers around the world struggling to attain food sovereignty.

"We wrote this book partly to inform the conservation community that recent advances in basic ecological theory force their activities into a more expansive framework, especially with regard to the structure of tropical agriculture," they wrote. "Especially in a world where a billion people go hungry every night despite overproduction of almost all agricultural commodities, we want people to realize that the conservation of biodiversity and the struggle for food sovereignty are two sides of the same coin."

Professor Perfecto this week was named the Charles Willis Pack Chair at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment. The Pack professorship honor, nominated by her SNRE faculty colleagues, recognizes her scholarly and service contributions over a 20-year period.

Visit the book's web site at Earthscan