Workshop 6 (synthesis): making water everybody's business - the educational challenge

Abstract

Water awareness and communication are crucial for developing water security. Better knowledge and improved insight can lead to new ways of thinking and hence more effective handling of water-related problems. The outcomes of the workshop are summarised.

Global Public Water Education: The World Water Monitoring Day Experience

“…Unarguably the protection and sustainable use of freshwater resources cannot succeed, unless people have enough basic knowledge and a personal relationship to their water (Seacrest and Herpel, 1997;Mirvis and Clark, 1998). Hence creating this awareness and empowering users about their water is one the most important educational challenges of our age (Chitale and Cederwall, 2001). In particular educating the youth, is a key step, as it is this youth who will be making future decisions (Mancl and La Barge, 1996;Peckumn, 2003).…”

“…A number of approaches to such water education have been tried. These include from symposiums, like that of Children's Ground Water Festival (Seacrest and Herpel, 1997) to full-fledged five-day Conservation Camps (Mancl and La Barge, 1996) and from company based touring education service (Pekumn, 2003) to programmes integrated within formal education (Chitale and Cederwall, 2001).…”

An Environment-based Education Approach to Professional Development: A Mixed Methods Analysis of the Creeks and Kids Watershed Workshop and Its Impact on K-12 Teachers

“…The charge to create an awareness about water issues and empower people to effect change for sustainable water resource management may well be one the most important educational challenges of our age (Chitale and Cederwall, 2001). The United Nations World Water Assessment Programme (UNWWAP) indicates that the smooth functioning of ecosystems, communities and economies depends upon the availability of clean and safe freshwater supplies (UNWWAP, 2009).…”