Planning education to care for the earth - IUCN Knowledge Network

Planning education to care for the earthIn 1984, 55% of people were more worried about human healthproblems than the environment. The 1990 survey showed that peoplewere very much aware of the relationship between environmentalproblems and the human state of health.In 1984 more than 50% of people believed that the country’seconomic development couldn’t take place without environmentaldamage. The 1990 results, on the contrary, showed a populationconcerned by the fact that economic development will not be possibleif environmental damage persists (95%).People’s attitudes to adopting concrete solutions for protecting theenvironment rose from 8% in 1984 to 17% in 1990.Encalada, Marco (1990).Sources of fundingThe United States Agency for International Development (USAID) providedabout half the total budget of EDUNAT over its life span of 13 years. Otherinternational sources contributed 10 percent of resources and localinstitutions some 40 percent. The largest share of operating costs - up to 70percent - was for materials for the school system. A minimum input ofinternational technical personnel kept staff costs low.An evaluation of stages one and two of EDUNAT shows that costs were onlyone-fifth of those for similar operations in other Latin American countriesand much lower than for projects outside the region.ConclusionEDUNAT cannot claim a monopoly of the credit for changes inenvironmental consciousness in Ecuador over the past 13 years. Manyof the recent environmental initiatives nevertheless bear the stamp ofEDUNAT influence as some of the findings of the evaluationdemonstrate. The effectiveness of EE cannot be observed in directchanges in the environment, but in the way individuals and institutionsapply method and procedures and mobilize action which is known tobring about change.162