ABSTRACT
Thus far, we have looked at the cores and corridors that as wildland advocates we would like to create. However, the land in-between the reserves is a problem area of great complexity and is subject to global economic forces that presage great change. The intensification of agriculture over the past few decades has led not only to an impoverishment of biodiversity on agricultural land, there are also signs of significant deterioration in the fauna and flora of isolated small reserves. 1 Concerns over the ability of such isolated reserves to allow adaptation to climate change have made the issue of size and connectivity more pressing. In response to these pressures, conservation bodies have been engaged in a two-pronged strategy of extending reserves by purchase, and hence control, and trying to influence agricultural policy over the land in-between. In the wilder perspective, any programme of returning large herbivores and some of their predators would require larger-scale reserves and connectivity between them, which can only be developed within the context of land use for agriculture or forestry.
