wise use of mires and peatlands - Peatland Ecology Research Group

FRAMEWORK FOR WISE USE133(8) Education and Awareness 43 : Educationis critical for promoting sustainabledevelopment and improving the capacity ofpeople to address the conservation anddevelopment issues relevant to mires andpeatlands. Education programmes related tomires and peatlands should follow theprinciples of environmental education.Environmental education is education thathelps people to understand the forces (bothnatural and man-made) which determinehuman behaviour in relation to theenvironment. Peatland education shouldinclude a broad base of understanding,experience and skills, that enable people toanalyse and evaluate their own relationshipto mires and peatlands on both a local andglobal scale. People also need to be taughtskills that enable them to take part in decisionmakingand in actions as consumers andproducers which will lead to a sustainableuse of this resource.Such a programme of education is life-longand aimed at all sectors in society - citizens,communities, business and industry. It maybegin in schools but will also require aconsiderable re-design of professional andoccupational training in higher education andin-service training.The following are guidelines for suchprogrammes of mire and peatland education:1.They should be targeted at citizens,communities, industry and the noninstitutionalsector.2.Support should be given for thedevelopment and dissemination of multidisciplinaryresources which are linked tothe official curriculum and which focus onmires and peatlands as a topic forenvironmental education.3. Every institute for further and highereducation should be encouraged toproduce a policy for the integration of mireand peatland education and Wise Usewithin all relevant courses.4. Educators should be actively encouragedto make use of new resources through inservicetraining programmes.5. A network of centres for mire and peatlandeducation should be established, whichwould promote good mire and peatlandeducation practice.6.Communities, industry and the noninstitutionalsector should be empoweredto prepare mire and peatland sites foreducational use.7.Citizens should be provided witheducational materials that will enable themto make informed choices concerninglifestyle and consumer behaviour.(9) Socio-economic policy: Some countries(or wider political bodies such as the EU)have socio-economic policies. Such policiesoften include a commitment to promotingeconomic activity or employment in particularregions. In some cases these policies mayinvolve the utilisation of peatlands with aview to social benefits. For exampleemployment 44 provided by Bord na Mona p.l.cin the midlands of Ireland and by Vapo Oy inthe interior of Finland enables small farmersto earn enough money to keep their farms,and provides the possibility of widereconomic activity in small towns and ruralareas. Such socio-economic policies areusually incidental to energy or economicpolicies.5.6.4 Instruments at sub-national levelinvolving provinces and regions(1) Integrated catchment management 45 :Integrated catchment management (ICM) isthe management of rivers and the surroundingcatchment or basin as a whole. Even remoteecosystems can be affected by the demandsfrom distant urban areas. ICM is useful inidentifying and solving such basin-wideproblems, resolving sectoral conflicts andcross-boundary questions in the managementof a water resource. It is particularly useful in