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Wildlife conservation and enhancement can no longer rely on site based conservation alone. Alongside the protection of designated sites, protection and enhancement of wildlife in the wider environment is fundamental if the South East's biodiversity resources are to be adequately conserved.
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Many remaining habitats and species have become isolated. The fragmentation of habitats has left many species increasingly confined to isolated 'islands' of good habitat within the wider countryside. Remaining wildlife populations have become less sustainable and less able to cope with the effects of damage or disturbance.
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Creating and maintaining wildlife corridors (swathes of connected natural habitat maintained to help species travel through areas disturbed by human development) and stepping stones (small, unconnected areas of protected or restored habitat intended to promote bird and insect movement) will help to form an ecologically coherent network which is crucial to maintaining the region's biodiversity.
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Adopting an ecosystem based approach to the way we manage our wildlife interests will also provide a more strategic way of thinking, placing the emphasis on management which maintains the core physical, chemical and biological processes that actually support the wildlife interests than need to be conserved.