I am grateful to Sean Davison for his new book “Before We Say Goodbye”. It is a very moving and sensitively written diary of the last three months he spent with his late mother, Pat, leading up to her death in 2006. Terminal illness is a situation known sooner or later to us all, whether personally or within the whanau of family and friends.

My mother died at age 90, frail, unable to communicate or do anything for herself. Although she did not contract pneumonia, our family was asked if in such a circumstance we would want the hospital to administer antibiotics, or keep her comfortable. We chose the latter. The question of euthanasia which such situations raise is a fraught one which most of us wrestle with personally. There is no easy answer, no hard-line ideological prescription.

I start from three principles :
1.    Life should start, proceed and end as naturally as possible
2.    With the aid of medicine and technology, we should take steps to maximise human wellbeing and minimise those factors that work against human wellbeing.
3.    In the spiritual domain, we should facilitate the growth of a deeper sense of oneness with one’s God (however defined), and the peace of mind and soul that comes with that.

In the case of someone in a terminal situation (which I know raises questions of definition of its own), I would define human well-being as :
4.    Minimising pain and distress
5.    Maximising the opportunity for human relationships, especially with those close to us, and promoting spiritual wellbeing.

The conclusions I draw from this with regard to those who are terminally ill are :
6.    I see it as a matter of the patient’s advance directives as to whether steps should be taken to artificially prolong life if in a terminal condition eg providing antibiotics to combat pneumonia, resuscitating someone after heart attack or stroke, or continuing with life support systems. The advance directives may be established by a Living Will or other statement of intent. For some in the medical profession, prolonging life may be seen as a question of professional pride.
7.    The medical profession should use any medical means at their disposal to relieve pain and distress, and make the patient comfortable. If in the process this shortens the person’s life, that is acceptable insofar as the intention is the relief of pain and distress. Again, I am aware that effective means of achieving this, eg by the use of morphine, are complex.
8.    I am uncomfortable with any intervention to extinguish a person’s life as a direct act by, for example, the injection or ingestion of chemicals having a lethal consequence. To me this has the feeling of an execution, and contravenes the principle of allowing life to end as naturally as possible (see 1 above).
Euthanasia -Greek eu (good) thanatos (death) – is in common usage the situation outlined in (8), whether death be by the hand of others, or by others assisting a person to take his/her own life. (See the final paragraph for a truer meaning of ‘euthanasia’). There are several considerations here to note :
9.    The period “before we say goodbye” can be rich with opportunities to deepen relationships, tie up loose ends from life, and say things we might not have the chance to otherwise say. This process is richly outlined in Sean Davison’s book. The deepening of one’s spiritual life can also be a central part of this process.
10.    The euthanasia option could put pressure on the dying person to say “End it for me now, dear : I don’t want to be a burden to you”
11.    It might also lead to situations where a family conveys a message to a dying relative (even if only implicitly) : “Come on, Mum, do the decent thing”.
12.    The euthanasia option might be extended to people who are handicapped, depressed, or in some other situation which is not terminal, even although stressful. In such situations it is preferable to help people find new meaning and purpose in living, rather than make a quick exit.
13.    The success of option 7 (making life comfortable for a dying person) is dependent on the availability of good palliative care facilities. A palliative care physician who has cared for large numbers of dying patients over many years reports never having been asked for assistance to die where effective palliative care facilities exist. But in rural areas such facilities may be slim or non-existent. This is a challenge to our health service.
14.    We need to be aware of extensions of the euthanasia option. Australian euthanasia advocate, Dr Philip Nitschke appears to favour voluntary euthanasia as a means to shorten the lives of the ailing aged as a means of reducing the fiscal burden on the nation’s health budget. Nitschke writes : “So the next time you hear a government minister trying to argue why this or that payment or welfare programme for single mothers or war veterans must be cut, counter their argument with their fiscal irresponsibility on end-of-life choices.” (Killing me Softly, p 131, 2005).

The choice is not easy. We are dealing with human life and death, pain and weakness, loving relationships that are central to our lives. On balance my view is that we need not artificially prolong life, nor terminate it by direct intervention. We should reframe our use of the word euthanasia using it not in the sense of a quick exit, but rather in its true meaning of ‘a good death’, one which values all life, seeks ways to make the ending of life as comfortable and pain-free as possible, while being enriched by the presence of family and friends, and the love of God.

Bishop Richard Randerson is the former Anglican Dean and Assistant Bishop of Auckland.

Disclaimer: Please do your own homework. Be careful with the ideas you allow to establish in your mind.  I’ve written this fairly open ended and used Wikipedia more than Jimmy Wales.

In no means do I endorse the views of the movie detailed below.

The red pill

On Monday night at the Southern Cross Bar out of curiosity I attended a public screening of “Wake Up Call! New World Order”, presented by a non-profit group called openUReyes.

The movie is presented in a number of parts linked together by their contribution to a New World Order conspiracy which is primarily discussed in the first part. Each part dealt could be considered a documentary on their own standing.

Before I start, I’d like point out that conspiracy theories based on the same ideas this movie presented have been around longer than you might think.

In 1797, a paper titled “Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in the secret meetings of Freemasons, Illuminati and Reading Societies” was published, theorising on conspiracies involving an order of rulers above our elected leaders. You can in fact buy a copy of this off Amazon.com today. George Washington was sent a copy in 1798.

In 1903, 24-27 plagiarising paragraphs called “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” were published in Russian. Influential conspiracy theorists such as David Icke no doubt would be familiar with this text. I recommend you read Wikipedia’s entry specifically the “Structure & Theme” section as it has an excellent summary on how the Elders of Zion were supposed to take over the world, and most modern-day conspiracy theories follow the same step-by-step guide.

The Illuminati

The first section of the movie primarily deals with this central conspiracy – that a group of beings or families are pulling the strings of the world behind the scenes and orchestrating world events for their own purposes.

To achieve this, the movie claims a central banking system provides both the financial return and the means in which to create wealth for the elite rulers, or Illuminati.

One of the key groups the movie claims to be creating this New World Order is the Bilderberg Group, who are referenced in the context of secretive meetings and connections with apex political leaders.

Segments of “Wake Up Call” by John Nada & “Endgame: Blueprint for Global Enslavement” by Alex Jones were cut together to show the claimed link between the Rockefeller family, the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Federal Reserve System – America’s central banking network. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, links to General Electric and shady business practices of JP Morgan (formerly Chase Bank) are presented.

Later in this part a short clip is shown from an interview with Ted Gunderson, a former high-ranking FBI agent, who states his belief in government conspiracies including Majestic-12, and mentions the well known and factually established ECHELON programme as an example.

Majestic-12 , or M12, is a code name for a group supposedly established to investigate UFO activity in 1947 after the Roswell incident by President Truman. Key documents dated from 1947 purported to prove the existence of Majestic-12 have been challenged on the basis that a typewriter able to use type Justification in the same manner was first made by IBM in 1962.

An obscure reference to a secret Colombia naming convention, e.g. the Colombia space shuttle, was mentioned, however I cannot find further information at this time.

Most convincingly, a secret Bilderberg handshake was caught on camera between two political leaders.

A Central Banking System

The Federal Reserve System was planned in 1910 at Jekyll Island, off the coast of Georgia, in a highly-secretive meeting of top financiers. Wikipedia notes one-sixth of the world’s wealth was represented at this meeting. Paul Warburg is claimed as the father of the Federal Reserve System and extremely influential in foreign policy.

Charles Lindbergh (the famous aviator, and name benefactor for the dance known as “Lindy Hop”) became aware during this time of Rockefeller’s plans for the central banking system in the context of a one world government, and in 1913 he labelled the Federal Reserve Act “the worst legislative crime of the ages”. He has read “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” and his actions suggest he believed in a one world government conspiracy.

In 1933, the Gold Standard was removed from dollar bills and all Gold became the US Treasury’s. When a government removes the Gold Standard it allows them to print as much money as they want as it doesn’t have to be backed by gold. The movie claims this allowed the central banking system to create as much wealth as required for the elite rulers.

More sources are referenced, “Monopoly Men”, “The Capitalist Conspiracy” & “Zeitgeist”, James P. Tucker is cited as an important journalist covering events from Jekyll Island, and the Spotlight magazine noted.

North American Union

A modern day example is claimed as an example of one world government: the theoretical North American Union (NAU), a conglomerate of Canada, the USA & Mexico.

Obvious parallels were drawn between the NAU and the real-life EU. An African Union and Asia-Pacific Union were suggested as likely to form key elements of a one world government.

Leaders of all three nations have denied the existence of a NAU. The African Union has existed since July 9, 2002, and the European Union since February 7, 1992.

For more, see: “Turning of the Tide” by David Icke.

Bohemian Grove

Bohemian Grove is a camping venue in California and claimed to be the site of bizarre rituals involving top political leaders such as US Presidents and British Prime Ministers thoroughout the decades.

Undercover footage of a night-time meeting was shown involving an evil-sounding voice, red floodlights and a burning altar cum theatre featuring a prominent owl.

This ritual dating from 1893, actually called the Cremation of Care, was claimed to be a secretive (even Satanic) worship of a higher being by political leaders ruling our countries. The non-fiction book Theatre West by Dunbar Ogden discusses this ceremony and explains the source of the ceremony being an awareness of the mythology surrounding the Bohemian Club meetings – rather than the other way around.

Alex Jones of www.infowars.com, who produced “The Order of Death”, interviewed an executive about the Bohemian Grove rituals who became defensive when intensely questioned by Alex.

The owl is publicly recognised as a mascot of Bohemian Grove meetings, symbolising knowledge, according to Wikipedia.

US $1 Bill

The US one-dollar note is discussed for it’s symbolism of a New World Order and recognition of the Illuminati.

Again, Wikipedia has a great article with close-up images of the discussed points, such as: the pyramid with all-seeing eye above it; inscription “Novus Ordo Seclorum” / “A new order of the ages”; the pyramid’s date of 1776 as the date the Illumanti were founded; the ‘owl’ in the top right-hand corner; and significance of the number 13.

9/11 & War for money

Part two goes a layer below, into how actually the new world order may be enacted through controlled events. The September 11 attacks are prominently featured as an example of an event claimed to be perpetrated by the government to create great fear, leading to a mass giving up of rights, and the enactment of totalitarian laws.

“Loose Change”, a documentary now in it’s 4^th major version including recuts, claims the 9/11 attacks were completely fabricated by the US Government and especially is used in this movie to claim the World Trade Center twin towers were destroyed by an explosive device rather than by the impact of an airliner.

Leading on from the WTC attacks, parallel attacks are mentioned in the context of creating a situation of fear then resolving this through reduced rights in return for greater surveillance, and in most cases, war or conflict against the alleged perpetrators of the attack.

In part one, war was claimed to be financially lucrative for particularly the Rockefeller family through Chase Bank, Standard Oil and their connections with General Electric.

As a side note not included in the film, Standard Oil, General Electric and the president of Harvard University – the recipients of a US$10million donation by David Rockefeller in 2005 – were key members of a group who met at Bohemian Grove in 1942 which subsequently led to the Manhattan Project.

World Wars

One of the claimed “false flag” attacks presented was the sinking of Lusitania in 1915, a passenger ship carrying 1,959 passengers to Britain from the USA. The Lusitania sunk off the coast of Ireland from a German U-boat’s torpedo, taking 1,198 lives. The movie makes the claim that the Lusitania secretly had explosives on board and was deliberately sailed into the danger zone to be scuttled, thereby causing American outrage at the loss of life and underhand German tactics, and giving the States a reason to enter World War I.

Standard Oil is claimed to have funded the London Blitz (German for “lightning” by the way, in reference to the “fast & quick” war theory, called Blitzkrieg).

For the same reason the movie advances the theory that the Roosevelt administration knew in advance about an imminent Pearl Harbor attack and deliberately allowed it to occur so as to enter World War II.  America was supposedly forewarned of Japanese invasion by an Australian task force.

In part three, it is claimed Hitler blew up his own parliament to gain power.

Vietnam

Next on the list is the Vietnam War. According to the movie, the Gulf of Tonkin incident provided the same impetus to enter the war – outrage by the American populace and legal justification to be at war.

The Gulf of Tonkin incident is factually known to be half bollocks, but the movie claims the whole event was a lie. History tells us that an American destroyer engaged three North Vietnamese torpedo boats on August 2, 1964. This first report is widely accepted. A second report was filed by the same destroyer, claiming another attack two nights later. This report has been accepted as incorrect and an NSA report released to show no such attack occurred.

President Johnson used this event to demonstrate his tough stance on Communism as it was an election year. Air strikes began on North Vietnam and America went to war.

Wikipedia states that in 1965, President Johnson commented privately: “For all I know, our Navy was shooting at whales out there.”

In more detail, the movie claims financial interests were again fuelled by the Vietnam War and uses the “Rules of Engagement” as a claimed example of protecting American business interests.

For more, see: Webster Tarpley’s writings; “The Power of Nightmares”, a BBC documentary film by Adam Curtis; and the 1993 comedy “Revelations” by the late Bill Hicks (he goes conspiracy-theorist in the middle).

Ramblings & RFIDs

The last part I found fairly uncoherant as presented in the film the next topics appear to be random, connected together by their contribution to a New World Order primarily through disinformation.

Al-Qa’ida was claimed to be a shill and it was considered unlikely that an organisation had cells at the ready around the world which could be called on at any time to attack.

Aaron Russo was mentioned as a friend of Nicholas Rockefeller, who apparently confided in him 11 months prior to 9/11 that an “event” would happen leading to the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. A direct copy and paste from Wikipedia: ‘Russo also said that Rockefeller was part of a ruling elite whose end goal, as stated by Rockefeller himself, is “to create a one world government, where everybody has an RFID chip implanted in them”.’

RFID chips are certainly an uncomfortable concept if you associate them with the warning in Revelation.

Charlie Sheen popped up a couple of times in polls claiming over 80% of Americans believed the September 11 attacks were a conspiracy.

For more, see: www.mindcontrolinamerica.com; and “Orwell Rolls in His Grave”, a 2004 documentary by Robert Kane Pappas.

From here, the movie becomes even more disjointed. A claim is made that news media company NBC is owned by General Electric, who is large producer of arms, leading to conflicts of interest in war.

Television was apparently invented as a mass hypnotist.

The American government is claimed by Charlotte Iserbyt, former Senior Policy Advisor in the US Department of Education, to be “stupefying” schools and education systems. A quote – “Break the person’s values” – supposedly echoes Soviet education systems.

The National Education Association (NEA), who represent 3.2million teachers in the States, was apparently founded by Rockefeller who said “I don’t want a nation of thinkers, I want a nation of workers.”

I couldn’t find any work to show that any member of the Rockefeller family funded, created or founded the NEA unfortunately, and the only place I could find John D. Rockefeller’s quote was on Wikiquote with no context.

The late stand-up comedian George Carlin appears in the movie to be having a particularly conspiracy-theorist moment, saying “Life is worth losing… [] …You have no choice, you have owners”.

The End is Nigh

This brought the movie to a close. Oh, and lots of David Icke. He is in every second scene by the way. The movie neglects to espouse his views on Reptilian Humanoid aliens running the earth. They can shape-shift too.

Unfortunately there was no conclusion or summary in the film to wrap things up, other than a bunch of quotes and cut interviews. So that’s what I’m leaving you with, no conclusion, no summary, you need to find truth for yourself.

Worldwatch’s latest State of the World report, updated and released annually is free to download at http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5561.

Get it while you can!

Here are a couple from youtube:

“There is so much more”

“Ain’t no reason”

     Now there are eighteen countries with A Rocha groups.    We are looking to see how best to share in the work here, beginning with finding out about the existing schools, groups looking out for plants,birds, fish and all, whether in churches or not.    

    Then I went along to see how the latest Habitat for Humanity building team were getting on, and found new trees being laid out alongside the site on the NZ Housing Foundation sites.

This is not Portugal, but there is still a lot to do.

                                      Jim Hunt,  Swanson. Waitakere City.     

I find myself most often riveted by them, but unless there is a place for me to explore and live out what has been discussed in real life, memory of it fades…and is possibly even reinvented.

And it would seem that that’s not far off the thinking behind Craig Hovey’s challenging little book (157pp). It’s a book about the Gospel of Mark, martyrdom, and how the two may come together in and through the church today (Brazos Press, 2008).

Mark’s Gospel, Craig Hovey reminds us, is widely thought to be “written for a persecuted church at a violent time in history. It’s aim is to help Christians who are struggling against oppression and forces that attempt to silence the preaching of the gospel….it was written for a martyr-church.”

In short, it might be said that it was written for us. But we’ve been a little deaf, over the years. Easier to domesticate and fabricate than to actually take seriously that the gospel calls us to confront what the bible calls the ‘principalities and powers’, and what we might think of as idols, images and institutions, or as Sin and sin, the power of death…

But the reality is, it’s not out ‘fault’. Orientating the church for mission to transform society and in doing so proclaim the gospel is always going to be subverted by the powers, and just as in times of the First Testament, prophets come and go but the ignorance and seduction of the people of God endures (woe to us).

Our only ‘fault’ is that we have so believed the lie and deception that mainstream incarnations of a church addicted to growth and power and legacy, and Hovey offers us a chance to see again – to see things differently. He offers us a chance to turn towards the light, and towards the cross, in a ‘new’ way. But like all truth that seems to call itself gospel it can be more than a little scary; more than a little intimidating. And like so many writings that provoke, we might find that afterwards there is really no place to explore and live out what has been discussed in the real life of the church.
As Hovey says:

“In the gospel idiom, martyrs die the death of Christ along with him. But as the story of desertion in the garden makes plain, no one actually does this. There is no faithful church at the cross. This is part of the suffering of the cross itself.”

Therein lies the challenge. The church of the institution is not (as a matter of course) the church of mission, not the church of Christ at the cross, and is in fact beset by the power of Death at every turn. The garden can be a very pleasant and aesthetically pleasing place to hang out, but Hovey reminds us in order to learn to see again, to be faithful and just, we must travel from the garden to the cross and dwell in vulnerability at the margins of society and the world, re-learning that which we too easily call gospel but venerate as some idol or other. That’s the journey of faith Hovey (or rather the writer of Mark) calls us to – and an opportunity to practice it in the real world, in normal every day life. Just where we are.
Hovey tells us of a Mark who’s story was provocative, gripping, challenging…

In so doing, he reminds us of a church who deserted. That church is us. We ceased to be a ‘place’ in which the gospel could be lived out, explored, tested, and in which the gospel tested, explored and was lived out through us. Being persecuted is an uncomfortable thing, to say the least. Not surprisingly, and often unconsciously, we’ve spent a lot of years seeking to insulate us from that fate.
Hovey’s book is a gift that will help us get back on the road.

Charles Marsh is Professor of Religion and Director of the Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia. His books include Reclaiming Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Last Days, God’s Long Summer, which won the 1998 Grawemeyer Award in Religion, and most recently, The Beloved Community: How Faith Shapes Social Justice, from the Civil Rights Movement to Today . A graduate of Harvard Divinity School, he has written for The New York Times, Books and Culture, Modern Theology, and numerous other publications.

Taken from http://www.oup.com

The aim of this book is to create strong International pressure to stop what is essentially nuclear war.

We ask the Anglican Church of New Zealand that if it accepts these allegations, it condemns and publicises them and requests that the Archbishop of Canterbury and other Primates of the Anglican Communion do likewise.

This matter was brought to the attention of the Care of Creation Mission Team at All Saints’, Howick by the article in The Anglican, Sept 2005, and by the recommendation of the above book by the Social Justice Council in Addendum, March 2006, where it was reviewed.

William Wilberforce was born in Hull, England in 1759, and first elected to the House of Commons at the age of 21. During his time in Parliament, Wilberforce led the political battle to abolish slavery and its trade throughout the
British Empire. He was a committed Christian. Another who features prominently is John Newton who was a former captain of a slave ship. Ultimately he became an Anglican priest and wrote one of the most popular hymns in the world, Amazing Grace. Newton declared that, “only God’s amazing grace could and would take a rude, profane, slave-trading sailor and transform him into a child of God.” Newton was the instrument God raised up from the depths, to place a protégé, William Wilberforce on the path of service to humanity.

The late 18th and early 19th century was a period of social reform and Wilberforce was one of the founders of the Church Missionary Society and therefore responsible for early Anglican missionary activity in the Bay of Islands. The spiritual background to the emergence of CMS was the great outpouring of energy in Western Europe now called The Great Awakening. John Wesley an Anglican priest became a major influence in the reform movement, in the UK. Not all those influenced by the revival left the Anglican Church to become Methodists, one such was John Venn, the Rector of Clapham in London and he formed the Clapham Sect of which Wilberforce was a member. The Clapham Sect was the “think tank”.

This history of theUnited Kingdom could be considered remote to us in New Zealand today, but it actually has a great deal to do with our parish at Waimate North and the ultimate history of this country.  The founders of CMS were committed to three great enterprises: abolition of the slave trade, social reform at home and world evangelisation. Seeing the historical characters in the film it was an excellent insight to the minds and attitudes of the early missionaries here at Te Waimate (Waimate North). These people were very much believers in the dignity of human kind and wished to bring the message of salvation through Jesus Christ to all in the world. Tino Rangatiratanga (Maori self determination) is often thought of as a modern political movement, but this was how the early missionaries saw and desired this country to be run, by the indigenous population. They wanted a generation to go by before settlement, in order that Maori could have the structures in place to govern.This is often overlooked as the momentum of secular European activities overtook this desire.

We could assume that the slavery issues of the 19th century were now dealt with and that the modern African would have no emotional connection to this. Modern slavery issues such as child labour are the present, but I would like to share a couple of personal experiences that illustrate that this legacy is still potent.
The Gambia was Britain’s main slave route and a few years back I visited there with my family. Whilst there I visited Fort James an island fort where the slaves were held before transportation. The Africans traditionally wore a belt of beads called a juju belt; this was believed to have spiritual powers and offered protection. As the slaves were to be loaded on to the boat the belt was torn from their bodies. We can relate to this in New Zealand, if we think of the belt in the same way as Maori taonga and how distressing it would be for a whanau taonga to be stripped in such a way and in such circumstances. The point is that there were so many belts torn off, that even today there are still beads amongst the gravel on the beach! Whilst there, an African American who was with our group found a bead. It was a deeply significant moment for us all as he broke down in tears.

I have a friend called Abu; he is from the Gambia, studying in London, before returning home. When I was living in England I thought it would be a good idea to take Abu to Brighton, to see what an English seaside town was like. One of the places of interest is The Brighton Pavilion. It is a palace built by the Prince Regent, who later became King George IV. The palace is internally and externally decorated with extreme opulance. As  Abu and I moved from grand room to grand room, I  sensed that Abu was becoming quiet and in fact seemed a little upset. I was oblivious to the pictures of the sugar plantations and such scenes hanging on the walls.  He then asked “how was this possible that so much wealth could be aquired and spent frivolously? Of course the answer was the wealth of the empire was built on the slave trade.  

So the point of these two stories is that even today, for those whose people were effected by the African/European slave trade  - it still hurts.

This report is an eye opener as to the wide variety of benefits that this type of activity brings about to our society, economy and natural environment. Major benefits found over the three case studies included social and economic benefits in the form of cultural, educational, environmental, and physiological gains. This includes oppertunites for volunteers, reduced pest damage for farmers, support for the regeneration of the Maori culture, raised awareness of the natural environment, community cohesion and the creation of new business opportunities. WWF puts an emphasis on the fact that their focus is not only in ecological restoration, but also in encouraging the harmonious interactions between humans and the environment.

The report also briefly notes disadvantages of conservation projects such as increased traffic to rural areas, however it notes that the main focus is on the benefits, which overule all minor disadvantages.

The Whaingaroa Harbour Care project has benefited the local community in many ways. A healthier fishery, boost to local businesses from improved environmental quality of the harbour, employment and increased environmental skills. Community awareness and cohesion have also occurred, bringing in a different mixture of people than would usually be involved in the environment, the report notes.

The Te Rangatahi o te Whenua trusts Ngahere Toa programme is designed for troubled youth in our society. Participants said that connecting with nature helped them to deal with problems in their lives. They learned practical skills such as plant propagation, fencing, trapping and environmental monitoring skills. Cultural skills involve Maori beliefs and language education, and physcologically, personal self esteem, respect and values are taught. Economically, an estimated twenty have since found jobs in trapping, and further income generating activities are being investigated. Because the trust is largely funded by the habitat protection fund, it has saved the government a large amount in alternative education programmes. The trust also runs other programmes benefiting the wider community.

The yellow-eyed penguin trust has a membership of about 1800 people. It also involves an at risk youth programme, has economic benefits for the tourist industry and DOC and other community benefits common to the other two previously mentioned case studies.

This report is well set out in colour -coded sections, making it accessible and informative. It is an interesting and insightful read into an area of literature that has previously had little coverage. The overall conclusion is that community led conservation projects have many, major benefits to the volunteers themselves, the natural environment and the economy of New Zealand. I would recommend this report for anybody who would like read further into the details of the benefits of community ecological restoration projects for all members of society.

ISBN: 978-0-9582825-1-2
Buchan,D. 2007
WWF- New Zealand, Wellington.