Planning education to care for the earth - IUCN Knowledge Network

Basis for EE in the Sahelinstitutions which exist, as well as the strategies of alliance the peopledevelop with regard to projects.Educational process and proceduresThe proposed environmental education process must be as close aspossible to the educational processes and procedures developed in thecourse of ages for the transfer of knowledge. Existing systems can serveas springboards to ensure that as many people as possible are involved.If educational processes and procedures foreign to the group are to be used,which may be a kind of opening and enrichment for its members, it isnecessary to measure their difference with regard to local practice; readaptthem to this context; motivate the actors by raising their awareness of theeducational innovation proposed to them, and make sure that these do notmake the people look more limited intellectually than they are.In short if environmental education is to change behaviour, it must firstacquire a relatively extensive knowledge of existing attitudes andpractices. This will entail identifying all positive factors that could be aspringboard for environmental education by strengthening positiveattitudes and behaviour or as bases of improving the process andoptimizing expected results.ConstraintsConstraints are internal and external to the group.Internal constraintsAmong internal constraints, there are cultural, social, political andeconomic factors which directly or indirectly degrade the environment.These must be identified to guide the content of environmental educationtoward the most effective approach to modify behaviour.It may be that the environmental context has changed and that practiceswhich previously were appropriate have become damaging, for example,burning practices that as, a whole, are now ill adapted to the Sahel’spresent environment.In the same way population growth and settlement lead to overexploitation of land, rendering ecosystems precarious, and shortening thefallow periods needed for natural regeneration.Another pressure on the environment is felling trees for firewood. Energyneeds are still high despite the efforts to introduce appropriatetechnologies such as improved stoves. These have been rather widelyspread in the region, although with mixed success.23