Towards a unifying theory of conservation in production systems

Reducing the biodiversity impacts of production systems like agriculture, fisheries, and forestry is among humanity's most urgent challenges. Efforts typically focus on: (1) decreasing the area used for production; (2) reducing the direct impacts of production on biodiversity; or (3) lowering the demand for production. While such actions appear useful in isolation, neglecting to account for how elements of production systems interact with one another can see actions pursued that may risk biodiversity loss. Accordingly, we develop a generalised framework highlighting these interactions and their ubiquity across production contexts, and illustrate how it can be used to identify actions that can deliver overall benefits for biodiversity. • In production systems, diverse actions are used to lower biodiversity impacts. • These include reducing production's area, direct impacts, and demand for products. • They are often used without regard for indirect effects altering their outcomes. • We outline a framework of these indirect effects and the interactions driving them. • When such effects are ignored, conservation actions can increase biodiversity loss.