Why is environmental education important?

activities.
What the law says about
environmental education?
Environmental Management Act (CAP 20:27) Section 4, under Environmental Rights states that: “Every person has a right to access environmental information”. In terms of the Environmental Management Act; Section 4: environmental education, environmental awareness and the sharing of knowledge and experience must be promoted in order to increase the capacity of communities to address environmental issues and engender values, attitudes, skills and behaviour consistent with sustainable environmental management.
The best hope for learning to live sustainably lies in schooling that is “smart by nature”.
It includes experiencing the natural world, learning how nature sustains life, nurturing healthy communities, recognising the implications of the ways we conduct our daily activities; and knowing well the places where we live, work and learn. Teachers are in a prime position to be able to weave these basics throughout the curriculum at every grade level.
Whether they start with an environmental issue or with fundamental ecological principles, teachers can nurture the knowledge, skills and values essential to sustainable living.
A variety of teaching strategies are particularly appropriate for fostering sustainable living.
Environmental Management Agency promotes interdisciplinary instructional methods that are age-level appropriate, actively engage students in learning in and out of the classroom, involving them in long-term projects and create an atmosphere of purposeful conversation and reflection about complex issues.
Recently EMA held its national environmental school debates and is also encouraging schools to take up environmental projects, either for conservation or rehabilitation purposes. EMA has assisted in establishing over            1 000 Environmental Clubs in schools and colleges.
What are the teaching strategies that one can use?
EMA recognises that students learn best when teaching strategies are varied to include hands-on activities, time for reflection and thoughtful discussions, a mix of indoor and outdoor environments, and opportunities to participate in interdisciplinary projects.
Environmental Education therefore:
l Includes learning in the field as well as the classroom.
l Incorporates the teaching methods of outdoor education, experimental education and place-based education.
l Is inherently interdisciplinary.
l Promotes school/community partnerships.
l Helps address the causes of “nature deficit disorder.”
l Boosts student achievement in all other related subjects such as geography, environmental science, nature studies among others.
l Develops awareness, increases knowledge, builds skills and creates the capacity for stewardship and good citizenship regarding the environment upon which we depend for life support.
l ls hands-on, student-centred, inquiry driven, engages higher level thinking skills which are relevant to students’ everyday life.
Environmental education makes other school subjects rich and relevant including the use of outdoor settings like wetlands, schoolyard habitats, or even national parks can infuse a sense of richness and relevance into a traditional school curriculum.
Environmental activities institutions can be involved in environmental debates, nutrition gardening, clean-up campaigns, tree planting/woodlot, gully reclamation projects, wetland rehabilitation projects, environmental awareness and campaigns.
Why is Environmental Education
important?
Our nature’s future relies on a well-educated public to be wise stewards of the very environment that sustains us, our families and communities, as well as the future generations.
It is environmental education which can best help us as individuals make the complex, conceptual connections between economic prosperity, benefits to society, environmental health and our own well being. Ultimately, the collective wisdom of our citizens, gained through education, will be the most compelling and most successful strategy for environmental management. This makes educating the young about these changes essential. They will be the generation that makes the difference in how we tackle issues such as climate change, how we source our food and how we find sustainable and renewable energy sources, to name just a few issues. They will need the skills and knowledge to face the challenges ahead and provide real, long-term solutions.
EMA’s environmental programmes facilitate youth development that will result in a cleaner and safer environment, for the health and enjoyment of future generation.
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