Integrating Agricultural Landscapes with Biodiversity Conservation in the Mesoamerican Hotspot.

The article discusses the challenges in tropical land management. Conserving biodiversity in the Mesoamerican (Central American) biodiversity hotspot is made difficult by the need to balance the growing demand for agricultural products and the livelihood of rural peoples with the potential for habitat degradation and ecosystem destruction. The article proposes a system of landscape management in which conservation and agricultural production are managed jointly for long-term sustainability. The system favors policies that support small stakeholders who are more likely to be intimately familiar with their lands.