Dr.Tarek Kapiel: The role of scientific media in raising environmental awareness in Egypt

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

All governorates experienced a significant increase in violations on agricultural lands. 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 further evidence that Egypt suffers from another environmental problem, which is air pollution, and the government strategy in dealing with this issue shows the lack of effective solutions.

Moreover, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), Egypt ranks sixth among the countries covered.

The study (among the 91 countries in the sample) which may lead to respiratory diseases in Egypt according to the World Health Organization.

It is difficult for any society to achieve sustainable development unless society respects the environment as a basic value and as a first step towards achieving it.

On the other hand, unsustainable and illegal fishing practices occur daily in protected coastal areas. As a result, fish numbers are declining in Egypt (Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs, 2013).

All of the above are just examples of serious issues as they reflect more stress on the environment and affect people’s quality of life in Egypt.

Since the human factor is the most influencing the environment, it is very important to prepare people at an early stage with the aim of correcting human behavior through education, culture and knowledge.

Raising environmental awareness among the general public

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

Environmental education helps people to 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 take place.

In addition, raising people’s environmental awareness is important in order to create self-deterrence with the aim of reach conviction of the importance of protecting the environment.

Over the past decades, there has been a great concern about environmental sustainability, and 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 does not need to simply teach environmental issues; rather, it requires a great effort from the media, especially the scientific media, to deliver the message to more citizens.

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

Environmental education

The learning process “environmental education” that increases people’s knowledge and awareness of the environment and the challenges associated with it, develops the skills and experiences necessary to meet the challenges, and fosters attitudes, motivations and commitments to make informed decisions and take responsible actions”.

Environmental education is also an educational process that helps people increase their knowledge and awareness of environmental issues as well as involve them in solving these issues; Thus, enabling individuals to take action in order to improve the environment.

Thus, environmental education helps individuals improve their skills to make responsible decisions by developing a deeper understanding of environmental issues.

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 increasing cooperation between environmental and educational institutions, countries have taken actions in order to participate in raising public awareness through environmental education activities.

For example, the Malaysian Ministry of Environment is one such country that has set up an education 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 deals with the concept of environmental education as providing students with some environmental facts and figures.

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 elements are missing in the Egyptian education system.

In addition, how can Egypt benefit from international expertise 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 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 is a society that can continue in the future, and provides a decent lifestyle for all its members – it is a sustainable society.

Sustainability is a way of looking at a community, society or planet in the broadest possible context, in both time and space.

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