However much time and effort is invested by the European institutions in encouraging a greater environmental awareness with the man-and-woman-in-the-street, information and exhortation has its limits. Sociologists and public opinion specialists will tell you that personal example and persuasion have much greater impact on the public mind. Someone you know - whether through personal acquaintance or via the media - is far surer to get your attention than any abstract message. But no one can do this more effectively than someone who, for you, is a role model - people successful in professional life, in the arts, literature, entertainment, sports and science. That is why personalities from the European Union's 15 Member States have been invited to add their authority and presence as 'European Ambassadors for the Environment'. Their names and reputations are endorsing a vital public initiative.

European Ambassador for the Environment Doroteo Arnáiz present at the 'Business Awards for the Environment' ceremony in Budapest

Spanish artist Doroteo Arnáiz donated his engraving "Caminante y hoja" (1972) to illustrate the diploma presented to the winners at the Budapest award ceremony.

A Spanish national, Doroteo Arnáiz was born in Madrid in 1936 and today lives in the northwestern Spanish province of Galicia. A convinced observer and defender of nature and the environment - aspects that feature frequently in his work - he was an early recruit to the 'European Ambassadors of the Environment' project sponsored by the European Commission. He studied at the Escuela de Artes Gráficas in Madrid and, later, at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. As a professor, he has taught the art of engraving at universities in Paris, Liège (Belgium) and Pontevedra (Spain). He was director of the National Engraving Institute in Madrid from 1980-1985 and, in 1987, established the Contemporary Engravings Centre in La Coruña, Galicia.

His work has been the subject of awards at various international art exhibitions, both in Spain and elsewhere in Europe. Examples of his work are on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Centre for Contemporary Art in Paris, the Düsseldorf Art Gallery and the National Libraries of Madrid, Paris, Lisbon and Montreal, as well as the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.