Abstract

To address the challenges of biodiversity conservation and commodity produc-tion, a framework has been proposed that distinguishes between the integra-tion (“land sharing”) and separation (“land sparing”) of conservation and pro-duction. Controversy has arisen around this framework partly because manyscholars have focused specifically on food production rather than more en-compassing notions such as land scarcity or food security. Controversy fur-ther surrounds the practical value of partial trade-off analyses, the ways inwhich biodiversity should be quantified, and a series of scale effects that arenot readily accounted for. We see key priorities for the future in ( 1) addressingthese issues when using the existing framework, and (2) developing alterna-tive, holistic ways to conceptualise challenges related to food, biodiversity, andland scarcity.