Special thanks goes out to ATBT, a data processing consultant in Budapest, for providing a detailed statistical analysis of the 1872 mail questionnaires. Four additional consultants were employed to conduct face-to-face interviews in their respective countries; thanks to Krista Harper (Hungary), Sonja Stamol (Slovenia), Arturas Valionis (Lithuania), and Katka Zackova (Slovakia) for conducting those interviews.

The REC thanks Alexander Chvorostov, who participated in the initial development and design of the research questionnaires, and Christy Duijvelaar, who contributed to the writing and editing of the final report.

Very special appreciation is given to the REC Local Office staff who worked very hard to coordinate the mailing of the questionnaires and/or to arrange face-to-face interviews in their respective countries. Without their assistance, this research study could never have been completed. The REC would also like to thank those staff members at REC Head Office who provided comments and suggestions throughout this research.

Finally, the REC appreciates the dedicated efforts of the coordinator for this project, Curtis Durrant, and his direct supervisors, Alexander Juras of the Local Office and Outreach Team (LOOT) and Ferenc Feher of the Earmarked Grants Team (EGT).

The REC's mission is to assist in solving environmental problems in Central and Eastern Europe by promoting cooperation among nongovernmental organizations, governments, businesses and other environmental stakeholders, and by encouraging the free exchange of information and public participation in environmental decision-making.

Beneficiary countries are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, FYR Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and FR Yugoslavia.

In addition to its head office in Szentendre, Hungary, the REC has local offices in Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague, Riga, Skopje, Sofia, Tallinn, Tirana, Vilnius, Warsaw and Zagreb.