Penguins and Mandarins

Description

About the Book:

This book is a ‘must’ for anyone interested in the tangled history of conservation and environmental policy in Britain during the past half century. For Sir Martin Holdgate was in the thick of the action for most of that time, and in his memoirs he provides fascinating – and at times amusing – insights into events behind the news stories.

Spanning a decade as a biologist in remote corners of the Antarctic and Subantarctic, many years at centre of Government action to protect our environment, six years as head of the World Conservation Union, and a diverse involvement in conservation at every level from the global to the local, Sir Martin’s perspective is one of insight and – on the whole – optimism. If you want to know what happened behind the Whitehall or United Nations scenes as some of the green issues bubbled through the second half of the 20th century, this is your book. It gives an unique insight into how science and policy are put together, and how British and world environmental affairs evolve.

Reviews:

A fascinating glimpse into the world of conservation, written from the heart by one of its own high-ranking officials. A masterly book. David Bellamy

An interesting and useful account by a man who was in the thick of policy-making in the years following the signing of the Antarctic Treaty. Robert Burton in ‘Polar Record’

A thoughtful book which one hopes will be read, and read between the lines, by many of influence and power. It has a serious and insistent theme – the fragility of our planet and the capacity of our species to wreck it. But it is not quite without hope. Dr Charles Moseley in ‘Cambridge’.