The United Nations declared the 2010s to be the Decade on Biodiversity, but to what avail? A generation after the Convention of Biological Diversity launched the term biodiversity into the realm of global environmental policy, species’ numbers keep declining, as do state-funded conservation measures. Meanwhile, public attention to ecological crises focuses understandably on immediate dangers of undrinkable water and unbreathable air. With climate change deniers in positions of power, simply decrying the daunting climactic changes underway takes work, alliances, and political strategy. In this dire ecological and political time, supporters of both biodiversity and its conservation are hard-pressed to state their case.
Three scholars have stepped up to do so, but each contends that the very terms of the conversation need changing. These books complement each other, and would comprise an informative, thought-provoking seminar on historical, present, and future iterations and expansions of biodiversity conservation. Other books and perspectives, however,...