The world is changing at a dizzying pace - seemingly faster each day. Although we seldom detect it from one day to the next, we all have small moments of shock when we return to an area long since left, and suddenly realize the scale of change. Namibia's former President, Sam Nujoma, left the country to help coordinate an armed struggle for independence in 1960. When he returned nearly 30 years later, he was appalled to realize the extent of deforestation in his home region - which had been largely undetected by those he left behind. This moment of sad epiphany eventually drove Nujoma to champion a number of integrated environment and development projects in the country. Environmental change had been noticed by an influential person - a rare, and for Namibia pivotal, event.