Biodiversity is the focus topic of this issue of Rural 21.
 
Article 2 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of the United Nations (UN) defi nes biological diversity quite prosaic as ?the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.?