A ground breaking new book, ‘Sustainable Diets and Biodiversity’, exploring sustainable diets and how they relate to the production and consumption of the food we eat, has this week been released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Bioversity International. Written by prominent scientists, policy makers and practitioners, the book studies the link between agriculture, health, the environment and industry. Making a compelling case for re-examining both food systems and diets, this new publication attempts to address concerns around the vast numbers of the global population not deriving sufficient nutrition from their diets. The authors also look at viable solutions to address biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation and the resulting impact on poverty and health. Barbara Burlingame, Principal Officer of the FAO Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division said “Sustainable Diets are those diets with low environmental impacts which contribute to food and nutrition security and to healthy life for present and future generations. Sustainable diets are protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems, culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable; nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy; while optimizing natural and human resources.’ Emile Frison, Director General of Bioversity International added “This publication is an important milestone in sharing our work on sustainable diets and their contribution to sustainable development. It makes the much-needed link between agriculture and the environment and is at the core of our work on nutrition. Sustainable food systems need good policies based on the best evidence from smallholders, large-scale producers and even at the global level. This book illustrates that imaginative, holistic approaches, that combine disciplines from the natural and social sciences to address the multiple dimensions of malnutrition and sustainability, are possible.” Welcomed by experts in this field, ‘Sustainable Diets and Biodiversity’ elevates food from being viewed just as nutrients, to being considered an integral part of our lives and livelihoods profoundly affecting us and the environment around us. In doing so, this publication represents a tangible contribution to Rio+20 ‘follow-up’ and the post 2015 development agenda.