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Both ENDS

Getting in touch with Both ENDS is a good way to get connected with many NGOs around the world that focus on conservation and development. Reviving Links is a good source of inspiration if you are planning on starting up an environmental education project. /GJM

Both ENDS aims to strengthen NGOs that work on environment and social justice issues, especially in developing countries. It works with hundreds of fellow NGOs throughout the world, providing them with a range of services. It organizes seminars and conferences, publishes and disseminates reports, provides the secretariat for a number of working groups, and provides information and contacts to colleagues.

Both ENDS carries out its work through four programs. The service program analyzes and provides information. Topics include donor agencies, NGOs, politicians and policy makers, the media, and current issues and debates related to the environment and development.

The outreach program assesses and stimulates cooperation between the various organizations involved in environmental and development issues, including NGOs, scientific institutions, development agencies and the private sector. The capacity building program facilitates the exchange of knowledge and experiences. This focuses on a number of areas, including fund-raising strategies, networking and advocacy, the use of impact assessments and project monitoring and evaluation. Finally, the awareness program seeks to raise the profile of NGOs through disseminating their visions and ideas, and promoting their involvement in national and international policy discussions.

The recent publication Reviving Links reviews the experiences of various NGOs in environmental education. Using a wide range of case studies from different parts of the world, the authors have identified the elements that contribute to the success or failure of such activities. These have been used to draw up guidelines to help others in planning and implementing environmental education activities. A selection of resource centers and important publications are included.

‘Education is communication in an organised and sustained manner, to bring about changes in attitudes, values, practices or knowledge. Education cannot take place without good communication, and communication involves listening as much as talking. Communication thus is a two-way process. People have definite perspectives concerning their own reality. They know their own local situation well, and their values and aspirations must be an integral part of any [environmental education] programme. Dialogue is an essential precondition for success.’

van Hemert, M., W. Wiertsema and M. van Yperen. 1995. Reviving Links. NGO Experiences in Environmental Education and Peoples’ Participation in Environmental Policies. Amsterdam,Both ENDS, SME MilieuAdviseurs and IUCN.

CONTACTS

  • Both ENDS ,Damrak 28-30,1012LJ
    Amsterdam,The Netherlands;
    Tel,+31.20.6230823,
    Fax+31.20.6208049,
    e-mail
    bothends@gn.apc.org

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GREENCOM

The diversity of GreenCOM’s projects means that it has a wealth of experience to draw on. This is reflected in its publications which are full of useful advice, suggestions and contacts. /ALH

GreenCOM seeks to increase the success of environmental projects around the world through the use of environmental education and communication. By bringing local people into the process of project design and implementation, the goal is to increase people’s awareness of environmental issues, and to bring about a change in their behavior. Approaches include curriculum development, social marketing, gender analysis, development communication, participatory methodologies and applied research.

GreenCOM’s work is wide-ranging: improving farmers’ livelihoods in a buffer-zone community to protect an ecological reserve in Ecuador; developing a curriculum on water conservation for Jordan’s eco-clubs; analyzing the constraints to recycling in urban neighborhoods in Ecuador; training teachers and developing educational materials in El Salvador; developing interpretive programs and training park guards in Nicaragua; developing a national environmental awards program in The Gambia; and helping to protect forests and coastal resources in The Philippines.

GreenCOM regularly publishes project reports and discussion papers. Human Nature, a newsletter produced in English, French and Spanish, reports on the experiences of educators and communicators from around the world, gives details of new educational resources and discusses the implications of political, scientific, social and cultural events. To further improve the sharing of information between colleagues, GreenCOM has established an Information Exchange Center, which has a collection of curricula, activity guides, literature on gender and participation, and information about current environmental and communication projects from around the world. GreenCOM is a project of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and is managed by a consortium of partners led by the Academy for Educational Development in Washington, DC.

‘In El Salvador, the national newspaper El Diario de Hoy publishes a supplement for children, entitled El Guanaquín, that once monthly covers the environment. Through graphics and articles, the supplement has covered such topics as biodiversity, reforestation, and solid waste. An evaluation of El Guanaquín conducted by GreenCOM showed that 62 percent of the teachers surveyed use the supplement in their classrooms. As in many countries, a high percentage of El Salvador’s population is under age 15. Getting them, their parents, and their teachers involved in environmental action is crucial to developing a population that supports environmentally sustainable development.’

Anonymous. 1996. Using environmental education and communication to promote change. Listening to People, an insert in Human Nature.

CONTACTS

 

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Centre for Environment Education

Given the growing urbanization in India, CEE has chosen to educate city dwellers on waste collection, composting and recycling in addition to carrying out projects for rural communities. /GJM

The Centre for Environment Education (CEE) has been working since 1984 to increase environmental awareness among young people, decision-makers and the general community. To achieve this, CEE develops innovative programs and educational materials. The aim is to provide models that can be used widely by adapting them to suit local conditions. CEE has developed programs for a wide range of target groups, including schools and colleges, visitors to national parks, local populations living around protected areas and urban dwellers. It is also producing a world-wide directory of training resources on biodiversity management.

The secretariat of the South and Southeast Asia Network for Environmental Education (SASEANEE), jointly run by CEE and the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication, is located at the Centre. SASEANEE aims to facilitate greater cooperation and exchange of methods, resource materials and experiences in environmental education, enhancing the quality and impact of environmental education programs in the region. It produces The SASEANEE Newsletter which comes out twice a year. Other activities include running a three-month course in environmental education for professionals from the region, organizing meetings and developing materials.

‘Fifteen kilometers from Jasdan there is a patch of forest. It has the distinction of being one of the smallest sanctuaries in India. But it also presents almost all the problems of protection that many very large sanctuaries and national parks are facing in the country.What are these problems?In a nutshell, people living in nearby villages want to use the forest and the Forest Department tries to stop them. The resulting conflict is neither helping the people, nor the Forest Department, nor the forest itself. And the problem compounds itself every year.The small patch of forest, barely 7 sq. km., goes by the name of the Hingolgadh Nature Education Park and contains grass and small trees – green from June to October, brown the rest of the year ... Birds are aplenty and numerous jackals and hares are thriving in the forest.Also there are people. More than 1500 families in six villages surrounding the park. With barren village grazing lands and subsistence farming, they have nowhere to take their cattle to graze, nowhere to go get firewood. Hingolgadh forest, of course, is the last resort.But Hingolgadh forest is not for them. At least, that is what the people have been told.’

From a brochure on the Hingolgadh Ecodevelopment Programme produced by CEE.

CONTACTS

  • Meena Raghunathan, Programme Officer, Centre for Environment Education, Nehru Foundation for Development, Thaltej Tekra, Ahmedabad 380 054, India; Tel. +91.79.442642 or 442651, Fax +91.79.6420242, e-mail root@cee.ernet.in

 

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International Centre for Conservation Education

The International Centre for Conservation Education (ICCE), established in 1984, aims to promote a greater understanding of conservation and the environment, through the promotion of education in this field. Together with its trading subsidiary, ICCE Services, the ICCE promotes a range of activities, including training courses and workshops for conservation educators and natural resource managers. Participatory rural appraisal, computer-aided production of educational materials, and women in environmental management are some of the topics which have been taught, in addition to a conservation education foundation course. The ICCE has a photographic library, and produces audiovisual and printed educational materials for which it has an extensive distribution network. The ICCE catalog of education resources, with details of books, games and education packs, can be accessed through its World Wide Web site. The ICCE offers advisory services on communication techniques, materials production and the management of education programs. Education and Communication for Sustainability in Africa (ECoSA) is a program coordinated by ICCE and funded by the European Union, in which environmental education needs in Africa are being assessed. The results of an extensive survey of activities in Africa have been compiled in a database available free to African NGOs. The ICCE produces a newsletter, Communicating Conservation, with environmental education news from around the world as well as details of its own activities. In 1996 the ICCE, with support from the Darwin Initiative, published How the World Works, An Introduction to Ecology for Environment and for Development Educators, which introduces basic principles of ecology on which resource management and progress towards sustainable development are based.

‘We are not alone. Human beings share the planet with millions of different kinds - or species - of animals, plants and other organisms. This great variety of life on Earth - the outcome of 3000 million years of evolution - is known as biodiversity.Biodiversity can be viewed in several different ways. The term can include variation within a species; the number of species themselves, and the incredible complexity of interactions and interrelationships between species within ecosystems.In terms of species, scientists have described and named over one and a half million of them. No one knows how many species are left to be “discovered”. The total could be as few as 5 million or as many as 100 million.’

Whitehead, M. and P. Steele. 1996. How the World Works, An Introduction to Ecology for Environment and for Development Educators. Cheltenham, ICCE.

CONTACTS

 

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EcoLink Environment Education Centre

EcoLink are key players in environmental education in the Mpumalanga area, who provide a wide variety of courses and skills training on topics ranging from permaculture to sanitation. EcoLink has grown rapidly, and with their new resource center, are able to provide an increased variety of courses on environmental issues. /ABC

The EcoLink Environment Education Centre is situated in Mpumalanga Province, formerly called the Eastern Transvaal, of South Africa. The program was initiated in 1985 in response to the severe shortage of education and training opportunities in the country, and to widespread poverty. EcoLink is engaged in a wide range of environmental initiatives including environmental education, health and water management. The main mission of EcoLink is to enhance the quality of life for people in their own environment. It is committed to assisting disadvantaged people through self-help projects, while creating a better quality of life in an environmentally sensitive and sustainable manner. Within all of its projects, it seeks to enable and empower rural communities to take command of their lives and resources.

EcoLink’s environmental education project, Grow for Life, aims to stimulate interest, understanding and a sense of responsibility for the environment. It offers knowledge, skills and equipment to help in developing an understanding of the relationship between people and their natural resources. An Information Resource Center has been established, which provides up-to-date environmental information and teacher training.

‘In order to start your Earthcare Garden, you will need to collect the following: eggshells, mielie cobs, garden waste like leaves, old sticks, branches, cut grass, weeds and bark, decayed vegetables and fruit ... You can also collect and use shredded paper, bits of cardboard, scraps of materials (not nylon), a few tins, sawdust, wood ash, and chicken, horse, sheep, goat and cattle manure.’

Anonymous. 1993. The Earthcare Garden. White River, EcoLink.

CONTACTS

  • Mandy Hodgkinson, Manager Resource and Information, Ecolink, P.O. Box 727, White River 1240, South Africa; Tel. +27.13.7512120, Fax +27.13.7513287
The 506,186 hectare Extractive Reserve of the Upper Juruá River was created by Presidential Decree in 1990. The population of this area is estimated at 8000 people, including Indians, rubber-tappers and riverine communities.

 

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Indian Research Center

The IRC is another of the valuable projects in Latin America supported by the Gaia Foundation (see PPH 2:15). As it reaches the stage of disseminating the results of its various research projects, the IRC is making important decisions about what information to share with the general public and what to maintain within indigenous cultures. /GJM

In 1989 the Nucleus of Indian Culture (Núcleo de Cultura Indígena) set up its Program for Education and Research in Indigenous Communities. This program was initiated to respond to and keep pace with the rapidly changing realities for Indian societies. Out of this program, the Indian Research Center (Centro de Pesquisa Indígena) was founded. The Center aims to consolidate indigenous territories and to search for viable economic and cultural alternatives. Among its first activities was the setting up of an educational centre in Goiânia to bring together young students from different indigenous communities. In 1992 its activities expanded with the establishment of pilot projects in three regions: Juruá River Region, Acre; Xavante Reservation of Rio das Mortes, Mato Grosso; and Krenak Reservation, Minas Gerais. These projects all seek to find economic alternatives that will allow the indigenous peoples to remain in their territories, protecting and preserving their land, birthright and culture.

In the Krenak Reservation, the Center has been involved with a project to breed wild animals. The project was set up by two young Krenak who had participated in the IRC’s education program in Goiânia, working together with a biologist from IRC. This has been of value both for providing an alternative source of income, and as a way of affirming the Krenak cultural identity and traditional way of life. In the Rio das Mortes Reservation, IRC has been working in partnership with the Xavante to document their natural resources and undertake a survey of their needs and priorities. In 1988 the community began an inventory of the fauna in order to formulate a management plan which would allow them to continue their traditions as a hunting people. The project conducted a survey of the flora and edible fruits of the cerrado vegetation to help improve the Xavante’s diet and explore the possibilities for commercialization of any surplus.Similar work has been conducted in the Breu indigenous area (Juruá Region), home to the Kaxinawá and Ashaninka. Here, research into the useful species of the region has resulted in community gathering and marketing of seeds from sixteen different native tree species. A new commercial product has also been successfully developed, based on couro vegetal (vegetable leather), used locally by Indians and rubber tappers to make waterproof bags. Today, this product is marketed under the name of Tree Tap by the Couro Vegetal da Amazonia S.A. company, and is used to make rucksacks, brief-cases, caps and clothes.

To provide further support for its work in these three areas, the Center has been producing maps. Based on satellite images, the maps plot information concerning water courses, relief, soil types and vegetation of the indigenous areas. After several years of activities, an important goal for the Center is to disseminate the results of this work and report on its experiences in bringing together traditional knowledge and scientific research. A range of publications, educational kits, radio and audiovisual programs are in preparation.

 

‘The Xavante Indians of the Pimentel Barbosa Indian Reservation were the first Indian community to begin to make a regular inventory of natural resources, wild plants and animal life in their territory, as well as to survey their needs and define priorities for a program developed jointly with technicians and researchers from the Center.Beginning in 1988 the Pimentel Barbosa community has been discussing, within the tribal council, ways of recuperating and occupying their 300,000 hectare reservation effectively. The Jaburu Project, as it is known, includes the survey of all native plants of the region and the survey of the territory to define areas for reforestation. The project also includes the collection of seeds, the preparation of nursery beds, and the harvesting of fruit for processing, in which techniques of drying, preservation and pre-freezing pulp extraction are employed.’

Pappoani, A.M. 1992. Centro de Pesquisa Indígena: Indian Research Centre. São Paulo, Núcleo de Cultura Indígena.

CONTACTS

  • Ailton Krenak, President, The Indian Research Center, Caixa Postal 25945 - CEP 05599-970, São Paulo - Brazil;
    Tel./Fax +55.11.8131754 or 2119996, e-mail
    nci@ax.apc.org

 

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