:: Environmental Program: The Last Noah's Ark ::

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

What is it?

    As the conscious about environmental questions is growing, we have been noticing a lot of references on the communication means about environmental education. But how has environmental education emerged? What are its concept, legal prevision and importance in the educative process? It’s what we are trying to analyze.
    The appearing and development of environmental education as teaching method is directly related to environmental movement, because it is the result of the conscious about environmental problematic. Ecology as global science has brought the busy about environmental problems, emerging the necessity of educating in a way of preserving the environment.
    As it is said by Genebaldo Freire Dias, the expression environmental education was heard for the first time in 1965, at Great Britain, in the Conference in Education, done in Keele, where was concluded that Environmental Education must be essential part of the education of all of the world’s citizens. Later, in 1970, the USA has approved the first law about Environmental Education (EE Act).
    But it was at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, in Stocolmo, Sweden, that has emerged on the worldwide ambit the preoccupation about the environmental problems, being recognized the necessity of developing environmental education, having being advised the creation of Environmental Education Programs. This way emerged the Environmental Education as a new science, mainly worried about showing solutions to the world’s environmental problems.
    Also the important First Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education done in Tbilisi, Georgia, Russia, in 1977, by UNESCO, is an historical marc of sedimentation of this science, having a lot of advertisements, mainly that Environmental Education is a method of effective formation of integrationists, of students that have pluridisciplinar focus, which having this holistic formation are able to integrate the generalists and specialists, forming an important link of interaction of a lot of sciences in pro of development.
    The Worldwide Declaration of Education for Everybody: Satisfaction of the Basic Necessities of Knowledge, approved by the Worldwide Conference about Education for Everybody, realized in Jomtien, Thailand, in 1990, reiterates, among its objectives, the necessity of learning, respect and developing of everybody’s education in the defense of the social cause and of protection of the environment.
    At the United Nation Conference on Environment and Development, at Rio de Janeiro, in 1992, Rio-92, Environmental Education was definitely incorporated as essential process in the way of sustainable development extolled at this meeting by the Agenda 21, a agenda of rules for the 21st century.
    At this Conference were done a lot of documents, mainly Agenda 21 that on its chapter 36 that establishes “the promotion of education, political conscious and training” and shows an action plain for the sustainable development to be adopted by the countries, from a new perspective for the international cooperation.

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