Our conservation dream.

In the 50s, I gave a talk in London to a bird society on the endangered noisy scrub bird.

At the close of the talk, a man came to me saying he was the editor of a survival series.

Could I write a book about the bird?

"One bird," I cried.

"There's a whole continent in danger down there."

"Write a book about that."

Which I did, published in 1955, my first conservation book.

Then in the 80s I met Gro Harlem Brundtland, at the time the Prime Minister of Norway who had been commissioned by the United Nations to chair an international committee to produce a global agenda for change.

She had written a book about their conclusions; the main thrust being the need for an Environmental Bill of Rights to complement the 1948 Bill of Human Rights which had been found to be flawed, without the other half of the environment.

I took her book to our Council.

We whittled down her 29 legal principles to take 10 of the most important.

I wrote a manuscript on the book which the publisher had ready for the market until he went bankrupt.

The United Nations suggested every country should prepare a conservation strategy for humans.

At a conference in Canberra, I told them no person owned any of Australia.

We were only trustees for the future, returning home to write a new book, Saving Australia, published in 1988, my second conservation book.

The main item: the work of about a million conservationists had made our wildlife safe enough.

Australia did not have too many people; only too many in two few cities, Decentralisation could fix that.

We had almost 10 percent of the country as national parks.

I had a chapter on regional parks for the other 90 percent.

We should prepare conservation guidelines for where people work, live and play.

Then in 2000 came a stunning supplement from New Scientist which had begun publications of a weekly magazine 50 years ago,

Today it has 700,000 weekly subscribers, and 1.7 million readers monthly on the internet.

The 20 page booklet told how due to environmental dangers the world faced judgement day this century.

The threats: global warming, global pollution and global over-population.

Our 10 green values could hold off disaster.

So that is the task of our society now; to ensure publication of the book. Have the Bill ratified by the UN; with a World Court to deal with national backsliders.

Dr Vincent Serventy, Pearl Beach