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Site-based conservation is an approach to nature conservation that relies on the designation of important or representative examples of sites supporting key habitats or species, such as Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) or Important Bird Areas (IBAs). Whilst a rational way of ensuring that the very best resources are protected, it is open to a number of criticisms:

It tends to focus resources and protection on only the best sites.
With a changing climate, the best sites now may not be the best ones to protect for the future.
Wildlife is ignorant of lines drawn on maps by humans.

On balance, site-based conservation is an essential part of nature conservation, along with initiatives such as environmental subsidies and planning controls that protect biodiversity across the whole landscape (the broad and shallow approach), and the more holistic ideas of landscape-scale conservation.

v t e Conservation of species
Index of conservation articles
Conservation biology	Biodiversity Captive breeding Compassionate conservation Conservation behavior Conservation-dependent species Conservation genetics Conservation-induced extinction Conservation status Endemism Ex-situ conservation Extinction threshold In-situ conservation Latent extinction risk Marine conservation Mutualisms and conservation Nature conservation Conservation biology of parasites Species translocation Conservation welfare Threatened species Vulnerability and susceptibility
Approaches	Conservation agriculture Conservation development Conservation finance Conservation grazing Conservation management system Conservation movement Conservation photography Conservation psychology Conspicuous conservation Community-based conservation Ecoregion conservation status Environmental protection Evidence-based conservation Flagship species Forest management Forest protection Tropical rainforest conservation Integrated Conservation and Development Project Other effective area-based conservation measures Riparian buffer Roadless area conservation Roadside conservation Site-based conservation Wetland conservation
Protected areas	Conservation designation Conservation district Conservation easement Conservation reserve Gap analysis Habitat conservation High conservation value area Landscape-scale conservation Marine protected area Marxan Open space reserve Wildlife corridor 30 by 30 target
Key issues	Conservation refugee Fortress conservation Habitat fragmentation Human–wildlife conflict
Restoration	Assisted natural regeneration Ecosystem restoration Island restoration Reforestation afforestation Rewilding marine Species reintroduction
By taxon	Arthropods Insect hotel Birds Hawaiian honeycreeper raptors golden eagle Fungi Land mammals American bison Arabian oryx bears polar bears elephants slow lorises tigers wolves Marine Gray nurse shark manatees salmon sea otters Painted turtles Plants seed bank cryopreservation
By country	Angola Australia Belize Brazil Canada Central African Republic Costa Rica Hong Kong Iceland India Bhopal Indonesia Ireland Italy Malaysia Mauritius Namibia New Zealand Pakistan Papua New Guinea South Sudan Sweden Uganda United Kingdom (Scotland) United States forests
Related	Conservation officer De-extinction Planetary boundaries IUCN Red List NatureServe conservation status Special Area of Conservation Soil conservation
List of conservation issues List of organisations List of people Category