Volume: 14  Number: 3  Page: 160–172

A Critical View of the History and Perspectives in the Field of Environmental Education: Study Focusing on the Brazilian Situation

Débora Maria Marques Koury Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Departamento de Zoologia, Brazil

This paper attempts to examine the trajectory of environmental education, discussing the context of its public appearance, together with the social movements of the 1960s; its gradual consolidation as an interdisciplinary educational field, and some of its perspectives, in the light of contemporary socio-environmental problems. Focusing on the Brazilian situation, it discusses the ambiguous role of the United Nations in promoting international conferences concerning the environment. Such ambiguity is evidenced in the discussions involving both the polemic term sustainable development and the divergence of some of the ideas discussed during the official and the extra-official conferences that took place, simultaneously, in Brazil: Rio 92 and Eco-Forum. Based on the actual scenario of poor achievement of the objectives that were initially drawn for environmental education, the article attempts to call attention to the dramatic socio-environmental situation of Third Word countries, and to the necessity of more effective environmental education proposals, aiming to tackle both environmental and social problems.

Keywords: environmental education, history, perspectives

© 2005 D.M.M. Koury

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