If the public is well-informed about environmental issues through the media, properly consulted, and encouraged to participate in decision-making, it is likely to accept the need for change quickly—and, in doing so, support the action of Governments or force them to act. Women have a particularly important role to play in this process in both developed and developing countries. Often the first to suffer from unsustainable development and environmental degradation, frequently the first to campaign for change, women are at the leading edge of the struggle for development in harmony with the environment