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International
conferences, of late, have come to be synonymous with gatherings in posh hotels
or conference centers in the major capital cities of the world. A recent
international conference organized on-campus by the Center for Environment
Education (CEE), however, ignored all norms in order to provide participants
with an inspiring setting for the ‘Education for a Sustainable Future’
conference held in Ahmedabad, India between 18 to 20 January of this year.
What
better surroundings for discussing education and communication of sustainable
development issues than a developing world education center built on a lush
green woodland – once a barren wasteland – complete with monkeys, snakes,
and indigenous birds.
‘Education
for a Sustainable Future’ is the first international conference to inaugurate
the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, which will
continue from 2005 to 2014. With more than 900 participants from India and
around the world, the conference gathered experts in a wide array of fields to
exchange experiences on how to better communicate such sustainable development
issues as biodiversity, water and sanitation, development in mountain regions
and energy.
Linking
Education to Development
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Kartikeya Sarabhai, left, Governor of Gujarat and Prof. Charles Hopkins inaugurate the conference |
Kartikeya
V. Sarabhai, Director of the Center for Environment Education, explained in the
conference’s plenary session that it has been a long journey since the United
Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972. It was
then that Indira Ghandhi first highlighted the link between environment and
development saying that “environment cannot be improved in conditions of
poverty.” Before this conference, development and environment were seen as two
separate processes, he said.
It
was in the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 that sustainable
development was promoted as a key concept, followed by the 2002 World Summit on
Sustainable Development in Johannesburg where concrete measures and targets were
set in the form of the Millennium Development Goals.
“Education
is still seen at the fringe of this,” said Sarabhai. “It is high time we
recognize the importance that education plays” in the sustainable development
process, he emphasized.
The
process of incorporating education into sustainable development is very complex,
said Professor Charles Hopkins, UNESCO Chair and author of chapter 36 of agenda
21, a 300-page plan for achieving sustainable development in the 21st century.
In fact, the task is so complex that Hopkins believes we still do not have a
clear vision of how to do it. “It is up to each and every one of us to our
best,” he said to the conference participants.
Hopkins
identified four basic thrusts needed to give education for a sustainable
development a push forward. These include raising levels of public awareness and
understanding, improving access to quality education, reorienting existing
education programs – as it is the most educated nations, he said, that are
leaving the deepest ecological footprints, and finally providing training on how
to provide education on sustainable development issues in a manner that is
locally relevant and culturally appropriate.
“How
do we provide a sustainable future for those affected by natural disasters?”
is what UNESCO science and technology specialist Lucille Gregario asked
conference participants. Gregario gave vivid examples of the devastation, both
structural and psychological, inflicted by the Asian earthquake/tsunami.
“Sustainable efforts must be channelled to affected areas,” Gregario said.
“The universal response was tremendous,” she admitted, “but it is at times
of difficulty that good and generosity come out. Why wait for human
catastrophes?” she asked.
The
Governor of Gujarat, Shri Nawal Kishore Sharma, in his keynote speech,
emphasized the importance of the participation of local communities in the
development process. “If you want poverty to go, then development must take
place,” said Sharma. “The problem is that whenever something is done at the
government level without the participation of the people, it doesn’t give the
results that are needed,” he said.
Syd
Smith, chair of the Center for Environment Education in Australia, highlighted
for conference participants some of the issues hindering education for
sustainable development. “Education is often not interdisciplinary or
holistic,” he said, with insufficient resource material provided to support
the education process. “Education authorities exist in a vacuum from other
organizations, and environmental groups often work independently of each other,
often duplicating programs and spreading resources thinly,” Smith stressed.
Robert
Chambers, fellow of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of
Sussex, emphasized the importance of propagating the slogan “they can do
it”, telling conference participants that there are members of our communities
that “have far greater capabilities to do things than was previously
thought.” Chambers identified in particular illiterate women and young
children as key players in the sustainable development process and its
education. “Teaching and preaching are part of the problem,” he said.
“They are not empowering to people; they do not enable people to do their own
analyses,” he explained. Facilitating the role of people’s participation –
for example in curriculum development – rather than teaching, is vital for the
process to progress, he emphasized.
Chambers
added that “anyone who belongs to an elite should be an activist”, further
going on to quote Mahatma Ghandi saying “you must become the change you wish
to see in the world.”
Water
and Sanitation for Sustainable Development
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In addition to education on water and sanitation issues in Indian society, viable solutions to existing problems are needed |
‘Education
for a Sustainable Future’ is a conference based on a break-up of participants
into workshops focusing in-depth on education and communication of a variety of
sustainable development issues. This journalist was fortunate enough to be
invited to participate in two of the conference’s 20 workshops, one on the
education and communication of water and sanitation issues, and the other on
using the media for sustainable development.
Ashoke
Chatterjee, Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) member,
emphasized the fact that the main reason that girls do not go to school in
Gujarat, India – where he lives – is the simple fact that there are no
toilets in the schools.
Chatterjee
stressed on the importance of educating people on water, sanitation and hygiene
issues through personal experience and through watching others. Chatterjee gave
an example of showing people how hand washing is a communal responsibility, and
that to “wash my hands is to protect my neighbour”.
Several
presenters agreed with Chatterjee on the importance of involving local
communities in educating their fellow citizens on water, sanitation and hygiene
issues. Mayank Joshi gave examples of India’s experiences in involving the
gram panchayat (local governments) in forming water committees, for example.
Mayank Joshi explained that involving the community helps in managing better at
the local level, but that capacity building of communities is essential for
their active participation. “Investment in educational interventions is
complimentary to technical solutions,” he stressed.
Sanjay
Joshi, from CEE Water Initiatives, India, gave examples of CEE activities in
involving shop keepers in rural India, who play prominent roles in local
communities, in educating and motivating the people to follow hygiene practices
in their villages. He also explained the important role of children’s fairs
and competitions in spreading awareness on water and sanitation issues, for
example in plastic waste collection. Another activity tried with much success by
CEE was getting women to use photography, in most cases for the first time in
their lives, to take pictures of unsafe hygiene practices in their villages, and
thus see these practices through the eye of the camera.
On
educating local Sri Lankan communities on the importance of rainwater
harvesting, Tanuja Ariyananda explained how involving religious places had a
positive effect on propagating the practice.
Finally,
S. Damodaran demonstrated how Gramalaya, a non-governmental organization active
in the field of rural development, managed to turn Kalmandhai into India’s
first sanitized urban slum, in addition to the country’s first slum to stop
the practice of open defecation. Gramalaya also managed, through incorporating
basic toilet technologies and education into their programs, to turn
Thandavampatti into India’s first rural village to eradicate open defecation.
Sulabh
International has extensive experience
not only in providing sanitation alternatives to the Indian public, but in
educating local communities on sanitation issues. So much so, in fact, that the
organization is in the process of forming an international academy of
sanitation. Playing an active role in banishing the
practice of scavenging human excreta in Indian communities, the organization
recognized the need to teach scavengers new skills to maintain their
livelihoods. Vikram Rajola, head of projects and administration in Sulabh
International, explained how open defecation has been a practice based simply on
convenience for more than 700 million people who lack toilets in the country.
The organization, however, through extensive education programs, sometimes
incorporating education on the extensive toilet etiquettes available in the
religions practiced in India, and through providing simple toilet solutions, has
played a major role in alleviating the sanitation problem in the country.
The
role of the media in communicating water and sanitation issues was emphasized by
Asha Krishnakumar from India’s Frontline Magazine. In a study she conducted
over a three-year period of India’s print press, she discovered that this
important role, however, is not reflected on the ground. “Coverage is episodic
and not continuous,” she explained, with a tendency of the press to
over-dramatize the issues. Krishnakumar stressed the importance that journalists
put water and sanitation stories into a context that will be interesting to the
general reader, and to be sensitive in coverage of such issues without resorting
to sensationalizing them. She also emphasized the importance of educating
reporters and editors on their important role in communicating water and
sanitation issues by providing them with simple definitions of water and
sanitation terminologies, educating them on the politics of water and
sanitation, and by explaining to them the important role that local language
press can play in alleviating water and sanitation problems in their
communities.
“Education
for sustainable development must happen in villages and cities, schools and
universities, corporate offices and assembly lines, and in the offices of
ministers and civil servants,” is how the Ahmedabad Declaration summed up the
results of its 3-day conference. The United Nations Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development will hopefully provide a fertile opportunity to
jumpstart this process.
For
Further Reading:
Nadia
El-Awady is IslamOnline.net's Health & Science Page editor. She has a
bachelor's degree in medicine from Cairo University and is currently studying
for a masters degree in journalism and mass communications at the American
University in Cairo. You can reach her at: ScienceTech@islam-online.net.
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