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Congress discusses education, social participation and climate change
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Published on July 15th, 2015
Environmental education in the area of climate change was one of the issues highlighted at the Third International Congress on Environmental Education of Portuguese-speaking Countries and Communities. The event, organised by the Portuguese Association for Environmental Education (ASPEA – Associação Portuguesa de Educação Ambiental), was held between 8-11 July in Torreira, Murtosa.
Under the Treaty of Environmental Education for Sustainable Societies and Global Responsibility and the Earth Charter, the Congress debated, in this third edition, on the topic “Environmental Education and Social Participation: crossings and meetings for the common good”. It aimed at strengthening networks and communities, in the Portuguese-Speaking spaces and Galicia, working in the field of environmental education.
About 450 participants from 15 different countries had the opportunity to attend and participate in lectures, oral presentations, poster presentations, short courses, round tables, workshops, field trips and other side events.
In the area of climate change, the president of ASPEA, Joaquim Ramos Pinto, expects the event to be an incentive to the creation of recommendations and proposals for the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP – Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa). “Sharing programmes and projects of adaptation and mitigation that some countries already have is very useful for a common awareness of climate change as a current problem”, he stresses.
Pedro Roberto Jacobi, sociologist, professor at the University of São Paulo (USP), and coordinator of the group Environment and Society Studies of the Institute of Advanced Studies at USP, carried out the conference “Social learning to tackle climate change: the challenge of innovating to mobilize”. In an interview with Clima@EduMedia, the researcher emphasised the importance of the social learning process for the “understanding of the phenomenon of climate change and for the resilience and adaptation to its impacts”.
Multiply opinion leaders on climate change
In this process of social learning, a key challenge is to expand the number of social agents involved, multiplying “opinion leaders in universities, schools, companies, local governments and community associations”. They are, according to Peter Jacobi, "people with a clear perception of the issue and of its importance, who create opportunities for dialogue, favouring a shared accountability for sustainable everyday practices”.
“In Brazil, there is a network of debate on climate change – Rede Clima (Climate Network) – with high visibility and an important role in coordinating NGOs, universities, scientists, those working in environmental education and government”, he explains.
The other major challenge identified by the researcher is the “translation” of information from experts to the public, since “there is a gap between scientific knowledge and its meaning for the laity”. To address this issue, he states that “the role of environmental education is essential”, spreading “an effective and non-catastrophic understanding of the subject”. In this sense, “the USP is creating a manual
About 450 participants from 15 different countries had the opportunity to attend and participate in lectures, oral presentations, poster presentations, short courses, round tables, workshops, field trips and other side events.
In the area of climate change, the president of ASPEA, Joaquim Ramos Pinto, expects the event to be an incentive to the creation of recommendations and proposals for the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP – Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa). “Sharing programmes and projects of adaptation and mitigation that some countries already have is very useful for a common awareness of climate change as a current problem”, he stresses.
Pedro Roberto Jacobi, sociologist, professor at the University of São Paulo (USP), and coordinator of the group Environment and Society Studies of the Institute of Advanced Studies at USP, carried out the conference “Social learning to tackle climate change: the challenge of innovating to mobilize”. In an interview with Clima@EduMedia, the researcher emphasised the importance of the social learning process for the “understanding of the phenomenon of climate change and for the resilience and adaptation to its impacts”.
Multiply opinion leaders on climate change
In this process of social learning, a key challenge is to expand the number of social agents involved, multiplying “opinion leaders in universities, schools, companies, local governments and community associations”. They are, according to Peter Jacobi, "people with a clear perception of the issue and of its importance, who create opportunities for dialogue, favouring a shared accountability for sustainable everyday practices”.
“In Brazil, there is a network of debate on climate change – Rede Clima (Climate Network) – with high visibility and an important role in coordinating NGOs, universities, scientists, those working in environmental education and government”, he explains.
The other major challenge identified by the researcher is the “translation” of information from experts to the public, since “there is a gap between scientific knowledge and its meaning for the laity”. To address this issue, he states that “the role of environmental education is essential”, spreading “an effective and non-catastrophic understanding of the subject”. In this sense, “the USP is creating a manual
for classroom use, in which different experts bring to the schools a multidisciplinary understanding of what climate change means”, he says, adding that “the school is the ideal place to incubate these ideas in young people!”.
Anabela Carvalho, professor at the Department of Communication Sciences of the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Minho, is the author of the book “Climate change, the media and citizens”. The researcher spoke to Clima@EduMedia about another social agent “instrumental in climate change awareness”: the media. “Studies indicate that they are still the main vehicle for informing the people about these issues. Data on scientific knowledge, political discussions and values present in the media discourse influence the way people face the subject”, said the professor.
Anabela Carvalho, professor at the Department of Communication Sciences of the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Minho, is the author of the book “Climate change, the media and citizens”. The researcher spoke to Clima@EduMedia about another social agent “instrumental in climate change awareness”: the media. “Studies indicate that they are still the main vehicle for informing the people about these issues. Data on scientific knowledge, political discussions and values present in the media discourse influence the way people face the subject”, said the professor.
Education, media and climate change
According to the analysis made by Anabela Carvalho, there are some aspects on which the media can improve their role in the field of climate change. “The problem has been reported mainly at a global level, and the reference at local and regional scales would be important for the perception of closeness and risk”, she points out. On the other hand, “the political issues surrounding climate change have dominated media coverage, and the media haven’t been critical enough of the options presented”. The author advises the media to “seek different perspectives, encouraging the participation of civil society on the debate”.
The researcher took part in the III International Congress on Environmental Education of Portuguese-speaking Countries and Communities as an organiser of the parallel seminar “Education and communication on climate change”. Here, the RESCLIMA project, a study of climate changes’ social and cultural factors in the Ibero-American context (Spain, Portugal, Mexico and Brazil), was highlighted.
This panel also had a presentation by Clima@EduMedia. Margarida Marques, research fellow in the project, presented its different valencies (training for students and teachers on climate change learning using the media, and a contest of adaptation and mitigation ideas for schools). Note that, during the congress, Margarida Marques also taught a short course on learning strategies for the classroom, in the context of climate change, using the media.
After Santiago de Compostela in Spain, Mato Grosso in Brazil, and Torreira in Portugal, the fourth edition of the International Congress on Environmental Education of Portuguese-speaking Countries and Communities was set for 2017 in São Tomé and Príncipe.
However, in Portugal, ASPEA will present new projects in the area of climate change starting in September, as revealed by Joaquim Ramos Pinto. The president of the association reminds that “ASPEA has, in recent years, been part of climate change projects”: it was responsible for the translation of a handbook on “Environmental Education and Climate Change”, produced by the University of Santiago de Compostela, whose printing in Portugal had the support of the Portuguese Environment Agency, and it is involved in three projects about oceans that intersect with the topic of climate change.
By: Isabel Pereira
Photography: Margarida Marques
According to the analysis made by Anabela Carvalho, there are some aspects on which the media can improve their role in the field of climate change. “The problem has been reported mainly at a global level, and the reference at local and regional scales would be important for the perception of closeness and risk”, she points out. On the other hand, “the political issues surrounding climate change have dominated media coverage, and the media haven’t been critical enough of the options presented”. The author advises the media to “seek different perspectives, encouraging the participation of civil society on the debate”.
The researcher took part in the III International Congress on Environmental Education of Portuguese-speaking Countries and Communities as an organiser of the parallel seminar “Education and communication on climate change”. Here, the RESCLIMA project, a study of climate changes’ social and cultural factors in the Ibero-American context (Spain, Portugal, Mexico and Brazil), was highlighted.
This panel also had a presentation by Clima@EduMedia. Margarida Marques, research fellow in the project, presented its different valencies (training for students and teachers on climate change learning using the media, and a contest of adaptation and mitigation ideas for schools). Note that, during the congress, Margarida Marques also taught a short course on learning strategies for the classroom, in the context of climate change, using the media.
After Santiago de Compostela in Spain, Mato Grosso in Brazil, and Torreira in Portugal, the fourth edition of the International Congress on Environmental Education of Portuguese-speaking Countries and Communities was set for 2017 in São Tomé and Príncipe.
However, in Portugal, ASPEA will present new projects in the area of climate change starting in September, as revealed by Joaquim Ramos Pinto. The president of the association reminds that “ASPEA has, in recent years, been part of climate change projects”: it was responsible for the translation of a handbook on “Environmental Education and Climate Change”, produced by the University of Santiago de Compostela, whose printing in Portugal had the support of the Portuguese Environment Agency, and it is involved in three projects about oceans that intersect with the topic of climate change.
By: Isabel Pereira
Photography: Margarida Marques