Nearly ten years ago, the Rio Earth Summit convened. It was a time of excitement and hope, and I was honored to serve as the Earth Summit's Secretary-General. Representatives from all over the world, including those from virtually all governments and thousands of NGOs, gathered to discuss the environmental and developmental issues facing us. We reached some landmark agreements to work together collectively to "change the course" of our industrial civilizations to a sustainable development-pathway. Since that historic event, the international community has made progress in a number of spheres, but also has failed to do so in many other areas.

　 Unfortunately the environmental conditions have deteriorated further, and the underlying causes of rapid population growth and the scale and intensity of destructive human activity have continued. While economic development is the focus of most nations, the situation of the poorest among us has not improved and the great economic disparity between North and South remains. All of us as citizens of the world need to take action now to correct the dire conditions facing the Earth and all of us.

　 At this critical time, it was refreshing to hear that OISCA-International--a trans-national NGO particularly active in environmental and agricultural spheres among the Asia-Pacific communities--was hosting an international conference, co-organized with several UN organizations, and focused on the theme of promoting environmentally active citizens through participatory-experiential learning processes. As a firm believer in environmentalism, NGO initiatives, international cooperation, & grassroots empowerment, I was truly pleased to receive the report of this notable event.

　 I feel that you may find this little booklet quite interesting, indeed invaluable. It contains, among other things, concrete information about a number of participatory-experiential environmental learning programs. Although having knowledge about environmental problems is essential, it is even more important for us to learn what we can do about them. I am certain that to accomplish a fundamental change of course by reorienting the human community toward the principle of sustainability, it is important for us to be open-minded and to take into account all suggestions, especially those coming out of grassroots organizations and practices.