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Abstract

Cover description: In Vanuatu, numerous huge banyan trees grow among the villages, agroforests, and cropfi elds. They are part of the cultural landscape, to the point that they are veritable playgrounds for children who climb in the aerial roots. These trees belong to the Ficus genus, known to be a keystone species ecologically. They have been protected for millennia by rural Pacifi c islanders and by people worldwide. They have multiple human values: social, symbolic, economic, medicinal, and food. Due to the ecological role they play for many wild animal species, they can be a powerful symbol of the successful cohabitation between human societies and biodiversity. In the article “Rio +20: Biodiversity marginalized” in this issue by Carrière et al. (see pages 6‐11), the authors critique out the growing trend to standardize biodiversity assessment methods, management tools, and conservation policies. They argue that this trend tends to marginalize local diversity of situations, tools, and ecosystems. It particularly leads to the ignorance of agroecosystems as matrix and habitat for biodiversity. Such agroecosystems and hybrid natural‐human landscapes, symbolized here by a banyan tree, can have a major impact on conservation outcomes for they cover such a large part of the earth's land surface. Their incorporation into conservation efforts is crucial, and indeed indispensable, if the biodiversity crisis is to be soon brought under control. This photo was taken by Stéphanie M. Carrière in Ambae Island, in Vanuatu archipelago during a research fi eld trip (agrobiodiversity assessment in ANR Vege‐culture project) in June 2011.