Biodiversity is a lifeline for the rural poor, providing food, fuel, fodder, building materials and medicine. "Biodiversity loss impoverishes all of us, but for the hundreds of millions face to face with it, the consequences can be unimaginably bleak," the authors write. So with rural poverty often concentrated in the world's biodiversity hotspots, Banking on biodiversity concludes that supporting these communities' long-term stewardship of the land and sea will tackle extreme poverty and biodiversity loss simultaneously.