Identifying principles of good practice: the key principles of environmental education for sustainability in the context of indigenous communities involved in biodiversity-conservation
- Authors
- Barrag?n Paladines, Mar?a Elena
- Format
- MasterThesis
- Status
- publishedVersion
- Description
Biodiversity conservation is experiencing a crisis of purpose as a result of disappointing track record and inefficient experiences that show the deficiency of the biological approach. This include over-simplified assumptions and misconceptions of ?community?, the imposition of externally designed and driven projects at the community level, a focus on conservation outcomes at the expense of community empowerment and social justice, and a limited attention to participatory process. New approaches are needed to address these weaknesses and to counter a rising trend towards the environmental preference for biology-conservation approaches that have been threatening the interests of local and indigenous communities. The research provides information about five core principles of good practice of Environmental Education for Sustainability, recognized in indigenous communities towards the conservation of biodiversity ? (1) Local relevance using community skills, values and resources; (2) Local expertise based on community experience; (3) Establishment of partnerships for conservation outcomes; (4) Long term process focusing on sustainability; and (5) Action reflection practices based on natural systems ? and they hold more promise. Drawing on the experience of Wunaanbal Gaanbera community in Australia and Zimbabwean community in Africa, I am able to recognize a long term process of applying these principles in both communities. This strategy is not simple and embodies all the social, economical, political and cultural issues around conservation in indigenous land. I finally suggest that the incorporation of these principles at a level of policy including strong and fundamental reviews of land tenure, indigenous rights to resources use and management can provide the basis for a revamped phase of community-based conservation that supports environmental protection while strengthening local institutions, building capacity, and contributing to sustainable practices.
Los esfuerzos para realizar conservaci?n de la biodiversidad y que comenzaron tres d?cadas atr?s han determinado en ciertos casos el cumplimiento de objetivos, y en otros el no cumplimientos de objetivos. En un contexto global la contribuci?n positiva puede ser la consideraci?n de iniciativas que demuestran un enfoque efectivo, claro y resultados concretos en conservaci?n (Mulrennan et. al. 2012). Justamente el objetivo fundamental de esta investigaci?n ha sido identificar principios de buena pr?ctica: los principios b?sicos de Educaci?n Medioambiental para la sostenibilidad en el contexto de comunidades ind?genas involucradas en conservaci?n de la biodiversidad. Ha sido imperativo analizar y evaluar acciones de iniciativas ya implementadas y demostrar que la conservaci?n no solo involucra aspectos biol?gicos. La tesis identifica cinco criterios b?sicos en pr?cticas de conservaci?n sostenibles llevadas a cabo por dos comunidades ind?genas, la primera en ?frica con la iniciativa CAMPFIRE, y la otra en Australia con el Proyecto Kimberly. La identificaci?n de 5 principios b?sicos que deben guiar cualquier pr?ctica de conservaci?n sostenible, han sido reconocidos y han resultado despu?s de varios meses de an?lisis de estudios de caso en las comunidades anteriormente indicadas. Los principios identificados son: 1. Relevancia local usando las habilidades de las comunidades, los valores y sus recursos. 2. Experiencia local basada en la experiencia de la comunidad. 3. Establecimiento de alianzas para conseguir logros en conservaci?n. 4. Implementaci?n de procesos a largo plazo propiciando actividades sostenibles y 5. Pr?cticas y acciones de reflexi?n basadas en sistemas naturales.
- Publication Year
- 2013
- Language
- eng
- Topic
- INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES
BIODIVERSITY
SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
- Repository
- Repositorio SENESCYT
- Rights
- openAccess
- License