Dr.Tarek Kapiel: The role of Environmental education to enhance understanding of the impact of climate change

Over the past few years, Egypt has faced many environmental challenges, especially after the revolution of January 25, 2011; the rapid expansion of urban centers has taken place indiscriminately causing the spread of slums, pollution, and misuse of natural resources.

All provinces suffered from a significant increase in encroachments on agricultural land.

More than 350,000 cases have been recorded causing the loss of about 30,000 acres of fertile land.

Because of the absence of an effective solid waste management system, the rapid increase in solid waste has become another environmental problem.

The black cloud is another piece of evidence that Egypt suffers from another environmental problem, which is air pollution. However, the government’s strategy in dealing with this issue shows a lack of effective solutions.

On the other hand, sea and river waters cause severe damage to marine life. Unsustainable and illegal fishing practices occur daily in coastal protected areas. As a result, fish populations in Egypt are declining (Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs, 2013).

According to the United Nations, the world population will increase to 10 billion people by 2100.

So sustainable development is of global importance so that patterns of economic growth can be accessed sufficiently and equitably by all this population growth without damage to the environment that already shows evidence of a threat through climate change.

All of the above present serious issues as they reflect more stress on the environment and affect people’s quality of life.

Since the human factor is the most influential on the environment, it is very important to prepare people at an early stage to correct human behavior through education, culture, and knowledge.

Raising environmental awareness among the public has become a necessity to enhance understanding of the negative environmental and social impacts of such environmental challenges, especially about individual and collective actions towards the environment.

Environmental education helps people understand natural environmental patterns, and deal with the environmental problems they face, so that they can achieve sustainable development, and avoid the negative effects of environmental issues before they occur.

Besides, raising people’s environmental awareness is important to create a self-deterrence to reach the conviction of the importance of protecting the environment.

Over the past decades, there has been great concern about environmental sustainability.

Allowing people to explore environmental issues as well as participate in solving these problems creates individuals who can take responsible decisions and actions.

The current state of the environment need not merely teach environmental issues; rather, it requires a great effort from the media, especially the scientific media, to deliver the message to more Egyptians.

In the following, we will present some important concepts in the field of environmental culture.

Environmental education

The learning process of “environmental education” increases people’s knowledge and awareness of the environment and the challenges associated with it, develop the skills and experience needed to meet the challenges, and fosters attitudes, motivations, and commitments to make informed decisions and take responsible action” (UNESCO, Tbilisi Declaration, 1978).

Environmental education helps people increase their knowledge and awareness of environmental issues and engage them in solving these issues, thus enabling individuals to take action to improve the environment.

Therefore, environmental education helps individuals improve their skills to make responsible decisions by developing a deeper understanding of environmental issues (the Agency for Environmental Protection, 2015).

Environmental education activities

Nowadays, environmental education has begun to be a part of primary and secondary schools as one of the outcomes of Agenda 21, in addition to increased cooperation between environmental and educational institutions, countries have taken action to participate in raising public awareness through environmental education activities.

For example, Malaysia’s Ministry of Environment is one of these countries that has established an educational department under the Environmental quality act.

This educational department is responsible for promoting and implementing a variety of environmental education activities.

However, the Egyptian education system still treats the concept of environmental education as providing students with some environmental data.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), environmental education should not only provide students with information about environmental issues, as there is a significant difference between both concepts of environmental information and environmental education.

Hence, it is important to investigate the extent to which the formal education system in Egypt provides students with the environmental education that society needs, and what are the missing elements in the Egyptian education system.

Besides, how can Egypt benefit from international experiences in the field of environmental education?

Sustainable development

The meaning of sustainability is “the quality of not harming the environment or depleting natural resources, thus supporting a long-term ecological balance”.

Sustainability means that people and their societies are made up of social, economic, and environmental systems and must remain in harmony and balance.

A healthy and balanced society can continue, providing a decent lifestyle for all its members. Sustainable development has been defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

The World Bank also uses this definition.

The sustainable development approach is about doing something in life in ways that are better for both the present and the future (Commission for Sustainable Development, 2011).

The relationship between environmental education, raising public awareness and achieving sustainable development

It has been clear that current development strategies are not sustainable and are harmful to the environment, and that the main factor affecting the environment is human beings.

Raising children’s awareness is the main way to educate the public. Given that education and training are key to raising public awareness, they are key to achieving sustainability.

The latest research shows that raising public awareness through basic education is the key to developing and achieving sustainability.

For example, research has shown that education can improve agricultural productivity, enhance the status of women, reduce population growth rates, enhance environmental protection, and raise the standard of living in general.

The contents of sustainable development are broad in scope, including poverty reduction, human rights, international understanding, and monitoring of the Earth’s environment.

According to the previous contents, the environment is one of the most important issues of sustainable development.

Therefore, environmental education is a fundamental issue in achieving sustainable development.

In addition, the introduction of environmental education in primary and secondary education can raise environmental awareness.

Hence, it contributes to improving environmental behavior and environmental conditions and achieving sustainability.

However, Egypt struggles against many environmental issues, particularly those related to human interactions with the environment and natural resources.

Given that there is a fundamental relationship between environmental protection and development, it has become necessary to educate the public environmentally.