This presentation was given by George Brown, former member of the Scientific Committee of agroBIODIVERSITY, a core project of DIVERSITAS, on the occasion of the DIVERSITAS Celebration on 30 September 2014 in Seville, Spain. George Brown is a researcher at Embrapa Florestas, Brazil. DIVERSITAS is in an international research programme on biodiversity science. Founded in 1991, DIVERSITAS will transition to Future Earth in 2014. Find out more at bit.ly/1sZ2GcB