ABSTRACT
On an international scale, many governments, at national, regional and local levels, have found that, as far as the environment is concerned, cure is far more laborious and expensive than prevention (Bernstam, 1991; Brat and Steetskamp, 1991). Aware of that fact and recognising that public participation in environmental conservation is critical to health maintenance (WHO, 1995), sustainable development (Templet, 1995) and economic growth (OECD, 1993; Schmidheiny, 1992), many governments, national and local level included, have been trying to solve their environmental problems by trying to create a broader awareness about them, mostly through one-off information programmes. But with little consideration to the need methodically to inform the public, raise their awareness on a certain issue, inform on their variables and then seek changes in attitudes or behaviours, few such information programmes have been or are likely to succeed.
