The awareness of the importance of keeping the environment clean, of not threatening the survival of future generations in order to satisfy the needs and the “wants” of the present generation, has soared in recent years.

However, it is important to recognize that “...we have far to go to bring clean water to a billion people, to slow the loss of thousands of species, and to meet our energy needs without destabilizing the atmosphere". It is equally important to understand that no society, no country has yet embarked on the ambitious turnaround strategies that will make today’s societies “sustainable”.

The reason, it is submitted, is three-fold:

1. Because those strategies are painful and expensive. Therefore, they can be implemented only by governments with the full support of the populations concerned.
2. Because they imply a shift in values and consequently a shift in behaviour and this needs not only a rational conviction but also a moral commitment.
3. Because this is a matter of education and education is a long process; particularly when it implies not only the acquisition of knowledge or skills but also the change of attitudes.

Being a matter of education, it is a matter which concerns Scouting, today at the forefront of non-formal educational youth movements all over the world.
This is what this reference document is all about.

It comprises the folllowing main parts:

1. B-P origins of the Movement - original Promise and practice.
2. World Scouting's Policy: Constitution of WOSM and Resolutions of the World Scout Conferences.
3. Environmental education and action: conceptual perspective.
4. Evolution of the environmental situation over the past decades; the positive side: significant progress; the negative side: threats and dangers; the race between positive and negative trends: a struggle against time.
5. Highlights of developments 1967-1988
6. Most recent developments 1967-2000
7. Prospects for the future
8. Conclusion
9. References