Environmental education

Environmental education (EE) refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating disciplines such as biology, chemistry, physics, ecology, earth science, atmospheric science, mathematics, and geography. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) states that EE is vital in imparting an inherent respect for nature amongst society and in enhancing public environmental awareness. UNESCO emphasises the role of EE in safeguarding future global developments of societal quality of life (QOL), through the protection of the environment, eradication of poverty, minimization of inequalities and insurance of sustainable development (UNESCO, 2014a). The term often implies education within the school system, from primary to post-secondary. However, it sometimes includes all efforts to educate the public and other audiences, including print materials, websites, media campaigns, etc.. There are also ways that environmental education is taught outside the traditional classroom. Aquariums, zoos, parks, and nature centers all have ways of teaching the public about the environment.Clarke, D.A.G.; Mcphie (2014). 'Becoming animate in education: immanent materiality and outdoor learning for sustainability' (PDF). Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning. 14 (3): 198–216. doi:10.1080/14729679.2014.919866. Environmental education (EE) refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating disciplines such as biology, chemistry, physics, ecology, earth science, atmospheric science, mathematics, and geography. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) states that EE is vital in imparting an inherent respect for nature amongst society and in enhancing public environmental awareness. UNESCO emphasises the role of EE in safeguarding future global developments of societal quality of life (QOL), through the protection of the environment, eradication of poverty, minimization of inequalities and insurance of sustainable development (UNESCO, 2014a). The term often implies education within the school system, from primary to post-secondary. However, it sometimes includes all efforts to educate the public and other audiences, including print materials, websites, media campaigns, etc.. There are also ways that environmental education is taught outside the traditional classroom. Aquariums, zoos, parks, and nature centers all have ways of teaching the public about the environment. UNESCO’s involvement in environmental awareness and education goes back to the very beginnings of the Organization, with the creation in 1948 of the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature, now the World Conservation Union), the first major NGO mandated to help preserve the natural environment. UNESCO was also closely involved in convening the UN International Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden in 1972, which led to the setting up of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Subsequently, for two decades, UNESCO and UNEP led the International Environmental Education Programme (1975-1995), which set out a vision for, and gave practical guidance on how to mobilize education for environmental awareness. In 1976, UNESCO launched an environmental education newsletter ‘Connect’ as the official organ of the UNESCO-UNEP International Environmental Education Programme (IEEP). It served as a clearinghouse to exchange information on Environmental Education (EE) in general and to promote the aims and activities of the IEEP in particular, as well as being a network for institutions and individuals interested and active in environment education until 2007. The long-standing cooperation between UNESCO and UNEP on environmental education (and later ESD) also led to the co-organization of four major international conferences on environmental education since 1977: the First Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education in Tbilisi, Georgia (October 1977); the Conference “International Strategy for Action in the Field of Environmental Education and Training for the 1990s” in Moscow, Russian Federation (August 1987); the third International Conference “Environment and Society: Education and Public Awareness for Sustainability” at Thessaloniki, Greece (December 1997); and the Fourth International Conference on Environmental Education towards a Sustainable Future in Ahmedabad, India (November 2007). These meetings highlighted the pivotal role education plays in sustainable development. It was at the Tbilisi conference in 1977 that the essential role of ‘education in environmental matters’ (as stated in the recommendations of the 1972 Stockholm Conference) was fully explored. Organized by UNESCO in cooperation with UNEP, this was the world's first intergovernmental conference on environmental education. In the subsequent Tbilisi Declaration, environment was interpreted in its ‘totality—natural and built, technological and social (economic, political, cultural-historical, ethical, aesthetic)’ (UNESCOUNEP, 1977, point 3). The goals formulated for environmental education went far beyond ecology in the curriculum and included development of a ‘clear awareness of, and concern about, economic, social, political, and ecological interdependence in urban and rural areas’ (ibid, point 2) which became one of the major bases of ESD.