Subnational | PANORAMA

Environmental Education Programme

A comprehensive environmental education program was developed for all levels of basic education, from pre-school to 12th year and including professional training. It includes activities adapted to the learning curriculum of each year. This way, school children would get information about nature conservation and its benefits while learning relevant concepts for their education. These activities are also offered to non-formal educational groups during the school holidays. More than 20,000 students have participated in a programme that has reached all the schools on the island.

The environmental education programme was designed with the contribution of teachers through several workshops that led to the definition of an education strategy. It includes a set of activities to be developed in the schools, ranging from lectures and practical classroom activities to more recreational activities and educational games. It also comprises some school visits to the Priolo’s Interpretation Centre, the Nurseries of Azorean Plants and the protected area.

Teaching tools and child-friendly materials were prepared for the programme and for teachers’ independent use. A certified teacher education program has been developed with 150 teachers trained so far.

European Commission funding through LIFE Programme;
Interest from schools in participating in the programme;
Restored areas available for visits by school children;
The existence of a visitor's centre was useful although it was not essential.

After 10 years of implementing this environmental educational programme, we could verify the importance of this type of approach not only for the children and teachers involved but also as a dissemination tool for the community.
Providing an opportunity for outdoor educational activities and providing activities that contributed to teaching curriculum subjects was a good way of improving adherence of teachers to the programme.
Teachers’ training and teacher’s involvement in preparing the school programme was also useful to increase school adherence to the programme.
Including more educational and more leisure activities is a good way to ensure the adherence of different types of education groups.
In order to increase participation of teacher and students and promote multidiciplinarity of environmental issues it was important to propose activities for subjects like Portuguese, English, Social Sciences, etc. But, of course, science and citizenship were the subjects in which most of the activities were conducted.

Entirety

Local

Subnational

Interactive educational website

West and South Europe

Lands of Priolo: Integrated management to save a bird, recover natural habitats and promote sustainability

Azucena

de la Cruz

Ecological restoration of natural habitats

Environmental Education Programme

Awareness raising and information for local and foreign visitors

Participatory Sustainable Tourism Planning

Monitoring of Azores bullfinch population and restoration success

Production of native and endemic plants

West and South Europe

Lands of Priolo: Integrated management to save a bird, recover natural habitats and promote sustainability

Azucena

de la Cruz

Ecological restoration of natural habitats

Environmental Education Programme

Awareness raising and information for local and foreign visitors

Participatory Sustainable Tourism Planning

Monitoring of Azores bullfinch population and restoration success

Production of native and endemic plants

West and South Europe

Lands of Priolo: Integrated management to save a bird, recover natural habitats and promote sustainability

Azucena

de la Cruz

Ecological restoration of natural habitats

Environmental Education Programme

Awareness raising and information for local and foreign visitors

Participatory Sustainable Tourism Planning

Monitoring of Azores bullfinch population and restoration success

Production of native and endemic plants

Value PAs and natural resources

To effectively conserve natural resources and facilitate sustainable development, a shift in perception must occur so communities and governments view PAs and natural resources as productive units of the economy, rather than resources under siege from development sectors and local communities. In the lower Mekong countries, attitudes are changing and governments are beginning to perceive PAs as economic assets carefully conserved for the development benefits they provide. While this shift is still occurring, governments are moving towards a situation where the natural capital held in PAs is subject to regular stock taking with the results reflected in GDP and budgets. Member states understand that investing in PAs and natural capital ensures resources are sustained, restored and expanded so they continue to produce ecosystem services vital to development and economic expansion.

For this building block to be successful, citizens and industries must directly benefit from the conservation of natural resources and expansion of PA networks. Direct benefits may take the form of water filtration, flood control, fisheries production, etc. If citizens and industries do not directly benefit, they will fail to see the value in expanding PAs. Success also depends on the commitment of governments to financially invest in the upkeep and expansion of PAs and their resources.

All PAs need to have their values expressed in economic terms which can be communicated in annual and long term budget submissions. Valuations should be part of PA management plans and environmental assessments associated with development proposals affecting PAs.

Each sector needs to be made aware of the development benefits they do or might receive from PAs.
Those benefits and their maintenance should be recognised in sector plans and budgets.

A more systematic application of the beneficiary or user pays approach in all sectors is needed requiring supporting economic policies and instruments. Pilots already carried out, for example, the Lao hydropower levies, should be applied consistently and replicated in neighbouring countries.

Users of PAs need to become involved in their management and protection. New collaborative management approaches will be required relating to specific areas, resources and rights of access and to the services and products PAs provide.

Underlying all these new directions, is the need to build the capacity, skills and budgets of PA managers.

Collaboratively plan and manage PAs and natural resources

Natural systems are not restricted to national boundaries and should be the foundation for regional development across borders, providing opportunities for political, technical and cultural collaboration leading to mutual economic gains. The partnership in the lower Mekong region united four member states, and expanded to embrace upper Mekong countries, and it provided the framework for focused conservation agreements between the countries.

Member states began by conducting national reviews of resources and policies, involving cross-sectoral working groups of PA agencies, economic planning and finance bodies, development sectors, and conservation organizations. National reviews directed a regional action plan to determine how much and which parts of the region should be kept in its natural state for the best development outcomes. Member states collaborated in reviewing issues requiring shared management, and adopted the same goals and objectives to facilitate comparative analysis and regional collaboration. The national reviews laid the foundation of information and directions the governments of the region wish to take, and the results will be integrated into the policies, programs and practice of each country and of their international partners.

Collaborators should have common goals and objectives, and all members should benefit equally from agreements reached. Additionally, agreements should be formed in a way that allows them to be updated to account for the rapidly changing state of the environment and human development.

Lessons learned to overcome different development priorities:

The four countries do not have similar development progress, objectives and priorities. Thailand, for example, is more developed and conservation focused in comparison to Cambodia, where economic development is a priority. These differences have to be recognised to ensure that national development goals and priorities align with shared goals and objectives to collaboratively plan and manage PAs. This required intensive consultation, discussion and negotiation.

Lessons learned to overcome differences in PA management authority and capacity in developing collaborative plans:

Lessons in resolving potential contradictions between developing (or difficulties in implementing) a national government level collaborative PA management plan and national processes of decentralization in PA management? Or perhaps differences in who decides and who is involved in PA management.