The Contribution of Ngos in Environmental Education: An Evaluation of Stakeholders' Perception

Abstract

Environmental education practiced by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) presents itself as a new teaching method directed at changing habits, attitudes and social practices seeking solutions for the social-environmental degradation afflicting the contemporary world. This work seeks to identify the perception and expectations of stakeholders regarding the contribution of NGOs in environmental education. The research was guided by the Delphi method and, as a result, verified that the involved stakeholders understand that environmental education practiced by NGOs must be ample, free, professionalized and directed towards all the segments of society via partnerships with public and private sector organizations.

Práticas de educação ambiental em organizações não governamentais

“…Seguindo, também permeiam essas correntes trilhas interpretativas, oficinas, hortas pedagógicas, cursos de formação, nos quais tem como desafios, "conscientizar a sociedade sobre os riscos socioambientais que gera, possibilitando mudanças de comportamento na sua relação com a natureza" (Tristão, Tristão, 2016). Ressalta que conforme Sauvé (2005), esse tipo de corrente tende a praticar atividades de imersão, logo as trilhas interpretativas se encaixam nessa perspectiva, uma vez que os autores Stel, Carvalho e Pastori (2010) apresentam as atividades da ONG GAIA por meio de uma imersão que visão uma experiência sensorial.…”

“…As atividades visam a articulação e participação da sociedade civil para enfrentamento de determinadas problemáticas. Além disso, são mencionados nos textos a falta de políticas públicas em relação a questões socioambientais como o acesso ao saneamento básico e algumas das consequências da globalização (como crescimento capital em detrimento da qualidade de vida, desemprego, fome, e problemas ambientais como queimadas, desmatamento e outros) (Tristão, Tristão, 2016).…”

NGO Organizing for Environmental Sustainability in Brazil: Meaningful Work, Commonality, and Contradiction

“…In Brazil, NGOs (or ONGs, the Brazilian acronym for NGOs) have significantly increased in number with estimates reaching 338,000 by ABONG, the Brazilian Non-Governmental Organization (Mello, 2012) and with 2,242 of not-for-profit foundations and associations supporting environmental activities, particularly environmental education (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística e Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada, 2012, cited in Tristão & Tristão, 2016). Still, there is no definitive study on the actual number of NGOs in the country (Campagnac, 2006;Conselho Empresarial Brasileiro para o desenvolvimento sustentável, 2010).…”

“…These initiatives question policy, program, and practice contradictions, adversarial stakeholder and class relations, and long-term impacts on the environment itself as well as understandings of human-environmental connections (Stahelin et al, 2015). In Brazil, efforts have triggered governmental programs, bringing together public and private organizational partnerships and situating responsibilities through policies and constitutional mandates, particularly individual responsibilities for environmental impacts and governmental responsibilities for education, with NGOs pivotal in these processes (Tristão & Tristão, 2016). Within this contentious context with adversarial public-private sector and regional stakeholder interests, NGO members need to construct communication processes that not only enable them to accomplish their goals efficiently and effectively but also work with the contradictions they face in process, output, and advocacy (for such paradoxes, see Putnam et al, 2016).…”