Modern Kapiti Island is best known as a sanctuary for wildlife. It is one of New Zealand's longest and most exciting conservation stories, beginning in 1897. Projects here to eradicate possums and rats, and to increase or establish populations of endangered birds such as the little spotted kiwi, have put the country on the world map for conservation management and provided models to follow in other parts of the country. Animal pests are eradicated, weeds controlled, and the forests are returning. The island provides a home for a variety of endangered birds and other threatened fauna and flora. In the surrounding marine reserve, sea life is flourishing. This book is written by people who have contributed to the restoration of the island
Kerry Brown is an author, columnist, Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at King's College, London.
*From Kerry's Website.*: Prior to this he was the Professor of Chinese Politcs and Director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. He led the Europe China Research and Advice Network(ECRAN) funded by the European Union from 2011 to 2014. He is an Associate Fellow on the Asia Programme at Chatham House, London. His main interests are in the politics and society of modern China, in its international relations and its political economy.
Educated at Cambridge (MA), London (Post Graduate Diploma in Chinese with Distinction) and Leeds Universities (Ph D), he worked in Japan and the Inner Mongolian region of China,before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London in 1998. He worked in the China Section and then served as First Secretary, Beijing, from 2000 to 2003, and Head of the Indonesia East Timor Section at the FCO from 2003 to 2005.
Kerry Brown has been published in most major newspapers, commenting on China and Asia, including the New York Times, The Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, the Australian Financial Review, the Australian, the South China Morning Post, and the Financial Times. He has also been interviewed since 2006 by the BBC, Al Jazeera, CNN, Bloomberg, ABC and other outlets. He had undertaken consultancy for Mizuho Bank, BP, Oxford Analytica, Hakluyt, Tesco and other corporates.