• Agenda 21 (1992) – Prescribes environmental education processes that involve teachers and
learners in promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of people to
address environment and development issues.
• Caring for the Earth (1991) which is a publication about sustainable development and which
supports the Brandt, Brundtland and Nyerere reports.
• First International Governmental Conference on Environmental Education held at Tbilisi in
the USSR in 1977. The 12 principles which is known as the Tbilisi Principles of Environmental
Education was declared here. These principles provided the framework and guidelines for
the practice of environmental education on a global, regional and national scale.
• Global 2000 Report to the President of the United States: entering the 21st century 1980 –
This document is remarkable as it was commissioned by one president (Jimmy Carter), just
to be rejected and ignored by the next (Ronald Reagan) even though it contained so much
data, insights and guidelines.
• In 1997 a document entitled Education for a sustainable future: a transdisciplinary vision for
concerted action was published by UNESCO. The aim was to take further the international
debates on environmental education and mobilising action to highlight the importance of
environmental education and public awareness for sustainability.
• IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) 1948 –
This is a scientific body concerned with the world’s diminishing natural resources including
wildlife.
• Report of the South Commission: the challenge to the South (also known as the Nyerere
Report) 1990 – This report supported the findings and recommendations of the Brandt
Report.
• The Brandt Commission Report 1983 – Focused on the need for a fairer distribution of the
world’s wealth and resources.
• The Brandt, Brundtland and Nyerere reports added conceptual and intellectual weight to the
growing concerns about the unequal distribution of resources among countries and
introduced the notion of sustainable development.
• The first international conference in South Africa was held in 1982 at the Traverton College
in Mooirivier which led to the formation of the EEASA (Environmental Education Association
of Southern Africa)
• The International Conference on Environmental Education which was held in Moscow in
1987 which reaffirmed the 12 Principles.
• The Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) 1987 – Also
referred to as the Brundtland Report.
• The Rio Earth Summit +5 in 1997 – Five years after the Rio Earth Summit, environmentalists
and policy makers met in Rome to review the progress since the 1992 Earth Summit. Very
little progress had been made in reducing the human impact on the environment and they
reemphasised the role of environmental education in support of sustainable development
• The Rio Earth Summit 1992 – Focused on the role of environmental education as an
educational response to the environmental crisis. One of the key documents emphasised the
need for a wide-scale environmental education programme to be implemented. A Treaty on
Environmental Education for Sustainable Societies was developed which was adopted by the
International Forum of NGOs and Social Movements.
• Thessaloniki Conference on Environment and Society: Education and Public Awareness for
Sustainability 1997. This conference celebrated 20 years of the Tbilisi Declaration and
evaluating education as a basis for the “fourth pillar” of sustainability in the 21st century.
, • UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) 1975 – The first UN agency to have its
headquarters outside of Europe and America. UNEP was given the task to establish the term
“environmental education”. With the help of UNESCO, the organised the first International
Workshop on Environmental Education in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
• UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) 1946 – Part of the
United Nations enterprise who started by only being concerned with education in a
developmental context but eventually became involved in the process of developing
environmental awareness and education as well as conservation awareness and education.
• United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 1972 – This was held in Stockholm
and seen as a major milestone in the development of environmental education because it
was the first time the world’s rich and poor nations came together to discuss matters of
environmental concern.
• World Conservation Strategy 1980 – Sponsored by the IUCN/UNEP/WWF. These documents
place a strong emphasis on environmental education which achieved worldwide recognition
and constituted a basis for national policy making.
• WSSD (World Summit on Sustainable Development) 2002. This summit was held in
Johannesburg and the role of education was once again emphasised as a response to issues
of poverty, global inequalities and the need for sustainable development in all societies.
• WWF (World Wildlife Fund) 1961 – Formed mainly to raise funds and awareness for wildlife
conservation.
QUESTION 02
The first environmental problem being observed is littering, waste and not recycling. This is done by
the learners littering on the school grounds therefor making it untidy and not using this waste to
recycle. The second environmental problem being observed is the waste of natural resources by
more fossil fuels that have to be burned to generate energy for electricity. This also creates pollution
as more carbon dioxide gets released into the air by increasing the burning of fossil fuels. The third
environmental problem being observed is the waste of the natural resource water. Wasting water
can cause droughts and we have already seen that effect in areas such as Cape Town where water
restrictions were put in place to reserve the little water that is left.
2.1. Learners must understand that recycling and picking up littering (and not littering in the first
place) is important for the ecosystem – and in turn our survival as human race. If we pollute our
fresh resources like food and water, we won’t be able to acquire resources which we can make a
living on and be the cause of our own demise.
2.2. If kids learn the proper way to dispose of waste and how to recycle and re-use things, then they
will have acquired the necessary skills to radically reduce the amount of pollution in the
environment. These things aren’t always just skills, though, it’s a paradigm shift as well. People need
to change the way that they think in order to make a real difference.
2.3. As said in the previous question. People need to change the way that they think before change
and positive cause and effect can take place. People need to stop thinking that “It isn’t mine, so I
won’t pick it up.” Or “There are people who get paid to clean.” And just start doing it themselves. If
each person can develop this attitude, then a massive difference will be made in the case of littering
and recycling waste.
2.4. Instead of using picking up litter around the school grounds as a disciplinary action in schools,
make it a fun activity that kids can enjoy, so that instead of feeling negative towards picking up litter,
it will create a positive and willing feeling in kids (which can be contagious) to encourage recycling
and picking up litter in order to counter pollution.
Schools can also decide to start a recycling project by sorting the litter and then taking the necessary
steps to get rid of the school’s waste in a proper manner.
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