Arcadia has awarded Sussex Wildlife Trust a grant over five years to help deliver projects that form part of the Wildlife Trusts’ nationwide Living Landscape programme.

The aim of Living Landscape is to rebuild Britain’s biodiversity on a ‘landscape’ scale, introducing large areas in countryside where wildlife can thrive. These areas will act as ‘climate corridors’, enabling for Britain’s wildlife move up and down the country as the climate changes.

The idea is a radical departure from the traditional approach to conservation, whereby islands of land are designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), set aside as nature reserves, or made locally important wildlife sites.

The Living Landscape approach is to work with community groups, local authorities, landowners and businesses to make larger tracts of land more sustainable and richer in biodiversity. Each region and landscapes will have different approaches.

The Sussex Wildlife Trust has three main projects.

The West Weald Landscape Project promotes integrated management of a viable and enhanced landscape in the West Weald, including enhanced conservation of four core forest areas and improved connections and land management across the whole landscape, which encompasses 240 square kilometres.

The Sussex Otters and Rivers Partnership promotes the sustainable management of Sussex rivers and their landscapes and the restoration of wetland habitats, including the creation of more sustainable wetland ecosystems. The project will work with natural processes to recover the endangered Otter, Water vole and Black poplar tree.

It is also working with the Kent Wildlife Trust on the Romney Marsh Living Landscape.