An education 21 programme: orienting environmental education towards sustainable development and capacity building for Rio

Summary Environmental education is essential to the success of Agenda 21. Yet currently it is without focus and effectively side-lined. This paper supplies a strategy and accompanying methodology for establishing environmental education as a major force for implementing Agenda 21. The author proposes the establishment of an Education 21 programme and the designation of the educational community as a new Rio major group. Recommendations are made to appropriate competent bodies.Trevor Harvey is the Director of Studies in the Department of Environmental Management at Farnborough College of Technology. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the International Academic Conference on the Environment entitled, Towards a Sustainable future: Promoting Sustainable Development. Which was in Manchester, UK Part of Global Forum, June 1994.     

An overview of Turkish research and education in environmental social science

The article presents an overview of environmental psychology research and education in Turkey within the general context of environmental social science. Brief accounts of the context, issues, ideas and methods of research are provided. Reference is made to relevant key research centres and education programmes. The findings of a survey that aimed to reveal the potential and orientations of such research in Turkey are used to support the arguments.The recent environmental social research reviewed indicates conflicting attitudes to the environment as a consequence of the joint existence of Eastern and Western life styles; contradictory conceptualizations of concepts such as crowding, complexity and privacy in comparison to the findings of Western studies, lack of specialization in use of space in the Western sense and a highly male and adult centred place use.A call is made for international collaboration with the developing and industrialized nations for joint work on theoretical and empirical issues in the field of environmental social sciences.     

An analysis of the problems of developing environmental education in Brazilian Federal protected areas

This paper describes the problems encountered in developing environmental education in Federal protected areas in Brazil. Results of a survey on the current status of environmental education in four categories of Federal protected areas; namely national parks, biological reserves, ecological stations and environmental protection areas, are described and discussed. The study suggests that the development of environmental education in protected areas in the country has several limitations: financial resources, lack of training, material resources and a lack of policy on environmental education. It also identifies that some of these problems seem to be inter-related with those of the National System of Conservation Units of the country which may result in a retarding of the development of environmental education in such areas.     

Teaching strategies for environmental education

Summary It is possible to distinguish four target groups for tertiary environmental education: the Technical Group, the Subject Specialist Group, the Management Group and the Lay Group. Each of these groups requires different sets of skills and abilities. The Technical Group needs to know how to measure environmental parameters. The Subject Specialist Group needs to know about environmental systems. The Management Group needs to have the skills and abilities to resolve complex environmental issues and problems. The Lay Group needs to have attitudes, philosophies and values about the environment. Each of these in turn require different teaching strategies. For the Technical Group, practical experimental teaching methods based on the traditional subject approach appear to be the most suitable. The Subject Specialist Group needs presentational methods based on either an infusion approach or a new subject approach. For the Management Group, a combination of high level disciplinary teaching combined with intensive short skills courses and more extensive junctions or environmental encounters, all of which make use of practice methods of teaching, are suggested. For the Lay Group, experiential methods, where the student's attitudes are challenged by experiences in either an in-service situation or through simulation exercises, seem to be most appropriate.Dr David Stokes is Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Head of the Department of Environmental Studies at Victoria College, and Bruce Crawshaw is currently a lecturer seconded to the Universiti Pertanian Malaysia.     

Integration of environmental education into university teaching

Conclusions The European Seminar on the Integration of Environmental Concepts in University Teaching was a meeting characterised by rich discussion, innovative ideas, hard work and interesting personal contacts. Its goals will only be fulfilled if its results and conclusions will lead to innovative action and better protection of the earth's resources. The output of this conference must be a starting point for further discussion and research. This short paper cannot reflect all thoughts and conclusions that emerged in Brussels. The proceedings will be published in December 1989 and will be available from the Department for Human Ecology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium.     

Promoting environmental awareness in Botswana: the role of community education

Summary This paper highlights the environmental problems confronting Botswana, which include growing pressure on water resources resulting from increases in population, urbanization and development, deforestation, overgrazing and rangeland degradation in the face of unfavourable environmental and climatic conditions. The paper also describes the role of the government through its National Conservation Strategy, and how this proffers possible solutions to these probems. Such solutions include, among others improved planning and administrative measures in the interest of both protecting water resources against pollution and the possible introduction of an incentive to encourage the collection of rain water, and government legislation which will lead to improvement in the management of both rangelands and livestock to prevent rangeland degradation, as well as the government intention to update its forestry policy to provide a comprehensive National Forestry Management Plan. The paper also examines the efforts of nongovernmental organizations including the Kalahari Conservation Society, the Forestry Association of Botswana, Thusano Lefatsheng and the Botswana Society. These non-governmental organizations are greatly involved in natural resource conservation and utilization and, in addition, they provide avenues for the discussion of issues relating to the environment and natural resources for public awareness. The paper finally discusses the role of community education, by examining the environmental awareness in terms of the population.This paper was presented at the Global Forum '94 Academic Conference, Manchester, UK.     

Youth environmental attitudes in Australia and Brunei: implications for education

This paper explores similarities and differences in the knowledge, beliefs and actions that comprise the environmental attitudes of senior secondary school students in Australia and Brunei. Utilising data from a wider international study in Asia and the Pacific (Yencken et al. , 2000), the paper uses findings from these two countries to illustrate the pervasiveness of global environmental concerns over local cultural influences in the construction of youth environmental attitudes in Australia and Brunei. Thus, young people in these countries, as they do in all parts of the Asia-Pacific region, have very similar levels of environmental awareness and knowledge, sources of environmental, beliefs, systems or world views about the environment, and levels of perceived control over environmental trends. They also have a shared desire for schools to do more in the area of environmental education. The paper concludes that much more effort needs to be made in certain areas. The first is to encourage teachers and others who have influence over young people to develop their own knowledge and skills to be able to teach environmental education effectively. The second is in the area of curriculum and pedagogical reform so that young people explore the many possible ways in which current systems can change to support sustainability, in which current lifestyles reflect these systems, and in which their own actions can contribute to a sustainable future.     

Two paradigms of professional development in environmental education

Summary In environmental education in this information age, it is particularly important to adopt the approach of enquiring critically into the environmental, educational and social values informing environmental, educational and social actions when and where required, rather than to simply adopt the approach of emphasising the acquisition and retention of information of an alleged universal type — information drawn from the stockpile of objective knowledge collected by others. This paper argues that to achieve this aim, environmental education in an information age requires aparadigm shift in the areas of professional development — a shift from a paradigm of information technology to a paradigm of information critique. A perspective on the form of this paradigm shift in the particular field of professional development in environmental education is the subject of this paper.Dr Ian Robottom is Senior Lecturer in the Curriculum Studies Centre of the School of Education, at Deakin University, Australia. His main interests lie in teacher education, educational enquiry, and environmental education. He conducts an off-campus environmental education course (B.Ed level) for practising teachers studying at a distance, is a member of the Council of the Australian Association for Environmental Education., and Editor of theAustralian Journal of Environmental Education.     

Back-alley sustainability and the role of environmental education

Environmental education can be a catalyst for sustainable development in local communities as long as it is recognised that communities have different challenges and needs. From a perspective of social change and sustainable development, environmental education can be broadly defined as the process that enables students and teachers to participate in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of educational activities aimed at resolving an environmental issue that they themselves have identified. What an 'environmental issue' is, then, depends on the perceptions and earlier experiences of the learner as well as the context in which education takes place. An illustration of such a participatory approach to environmental education is provided by the case of Pistons Middle School in Detroit, Michigan where teachers, students and outside facilitators combined action research and community problem solving.     

Federalism and environmental politics: An Australian overview

Summary This overview paper examines past Australian conservation controversies and experiences to identify prospective means of ameliorating environmental conflict in the future. Since all community disputes should be resolved by means of political and administrative actions, emphasis is placed on federalism and intergovernmental relations, and measures are suggested which might improve environmental policy and practices in the future.Dr Bruce W. Davis is currently Head of the Department of Political Science, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and member of the Council of the University of Tasmania. He possesses qualifications and professional experience in engineering, economics and administration. He has numerous publications within the fields of public sector planning and natural resources management, and acts in an advisory and consulting capacity to State and Federal agencies involved in national parks administration, heritage conservation and land-use planning.In addition to University commitments, Dr Davis holds the following appointments: Commissioner, Australian Heritage Commission; Member, Australian National Commission for UNESCO, Man and Biosphere Program; Trustee, World Wildlife Fund Australia; Councillor, Australian Conservation Foundation; and Consultant to IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.