Our desire to know our world is the genesis of all knowledge; our determination to understand and control it, the basis of science and technology: and our recognition of its complexity and beauty, the origin of spirituality. Thus the “environment” has never been outside the ambit of the educational process, nor has its central role been denied. However, the environment, whatever it connotes, has been taken for granted for a very long time.

Arising out of the increasing concern for the protection and improvement of the environment expressed by individuals and nations which surfaced in the 1960s, the first world conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm in 1972. In response to one of the recommendations of this conference, UNESCO and UNEP set up an Intemational Environmental Education Programme (IEEP) in 1975.

In August 1978, UNICEF agreed to fund this primary school project, and reaffirmed the objectives which had been agreed on in previous discussions with the University. These objectives were: 
 

Perhaps the first thing that strikes one about this bulletin is that it has managed to combine a refreshing simplicity with scientific accuracy. 
This is important, because in the message it carries, it should cater to a wide readership at all levels of educational attainment and literacy. Although the problems dealt with are global in scope, they are particularly applicable to the Caribbean nations, encompassed as they are by the sea. Indeed, in this issue, one article has its genesis in the Caribbean.