The role of environmental education in biodiversity conservation

Maryati Mohamed. (2001) The role of environmental education in biodiversity conservation. [Proceedings Paper]

The tropical rainforests and the vast tropical seas support majority of the world's biological diversity or biodiversity, most of which has not been documented. This biodiversity interacts amongst itself and also with the non-living environment producing ecological dynamics that maintain life processes. Human activities through time have contributed to the increasing rate of extinction of organisms. With the current rate of extinction, the ecological dynamics will be affected, eventually disrupting some life processes. The values of biological diversity are uncountable. Utilitarian values include those directly supporting lives such as food, medicines and building materials. The indirect uses maybe exemplified by watersheds that retain and filter water, providing clean fresh water for human consumption and the presence of forest layers that act as carbon sinks and oxygen producers as well as acting as climate modifiers. The more philosophical approach is to consider each organism that contributes to the biological diversity as created unique to itself and to fulfill certain functions. It has the right to live. Lack of information on the organism's uniqueness and functions should not make it less important. Man is created primarily to serve the Creator, In addition he is a steward, to develop the world he lives in for his own benefit and his society. But in doing so, he has to ensure that his actions will not jeopardize the environment and other people in it. As such, man has an obligation to conserve the environment which invariably also means the biodiversity contained within it. Human society is made up of various kinds of people, of various sectors and capabilities. In 1992, the world gathered at Rio and agreed that conservation of biodiversity is vital to man's own welfare and survival. After eight years some countries have realized the importance of conservation and worked together to achieve it. Many have not. Environmental Education (EE) is seen as a tool to bring together the majority of society to understand the importance of conservation of biodiversity. In this paper biological diversity and EE are defined and their importance discussed. The paper then goes on to discuss how EE assists in the conservation of biodiversity. Existing conservation efforts that are often linked to EE are described at the local, national, regional and global levels. The paper then continues to discuss the several issues and challenges in EE formulated for conservation of biodiversity. They are: knowing what exists in this world, the taxonomic impediments, target audiences and approaches. This paper concludes by describing the characteristics of EE. The EE discussed in this paper is focussed on those that we think will facilitate, enhance and achieve conservation of biological diversity. Although most of the time EE mentioned in this paper is targeted at the Malaysian society, it may be relevant to the people in South East Asia in general.

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Abstract

The tropical rainforests and the vast tropical seas support majority of the world's biological diversity or biodiversity, most of which has not been documented. This biodiversity interacts amongst itself and also with the non-living environment producing ecological dynamics that maintain life processes. Human activities through time have contributed to the increasing rate of extinction of organisms. With the current rate of extinction, the ecological dynamics will be affected, eventually disrupting some life processes. The values of biological diversity are uncountable. Utilitarian values include those directly supporting lives such as food, medicines and building materials. The indirect uses maybe exemplified by watersheds that retain and filter water, providing clean fresh water for human consumption and the presence of forest layers that act as carbon sinks and oxygen producers as well as acting as climate modifiers. The more philosophical approach is to consider each organism that contributes to the biological diversity as created unique to itself and to fulfill certain functions. It has the right to live. Lack of information on the organism's uniqueness and functions should not make it less important. Man is created primarily to serve the Creator, In addition he is a steward, to develop the world he lives in for his own benefit and his society. But in doing so, he has to ensure that his actions will not jeopardize the environment and other people in it. As such, man has an obligation to conserve the environment which invariably also means the biodiversity contained within it. Human society is made up of various kinds of people, of various sectors and capabilities. In 1992, the world gathered at Rio and agreed that conservation of biodiversity is vital to man's own welfare and survival. After eight years some countries have realized the importance of conservation and worked together to achieve it. Many have not. Environmental Education (EE) is seen as a tool to bring together the majority of society to understand the importance of conservation of biodiversity. In this paper biological diversity and EE are defined and their importance discussed. The paper then goes on to discuss how EE assists in the conservation of biodiversity. Existing conservation efforts that are often linked to EE are described at the local, national, regional and global levels. The paper then continues to discuss the several issues and challenges in EE formulated for conservation of biodiversity. They are: knowing what exists in this world, the taxonomic impediments, target audiences and approaches. This paper concludes by describing the characteristics of EE. The EE discussed in this paper is focussed on those that we think will facilitate, enhance and achieve conservation of biological diversity. Although most of the time EE mentioned in this paper is targeted at the Malaysian society, it may be relevant to the people in South East Asia in general.

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Item Type:	Proceedings Paper
Additional Information:	Available at Perpustakaan Sultan Abdul Samad, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43000 UPM Serdang, Malaysia.Call Number QH75 A1I61 2000
AGROVOC Term:	tropical rainforests
AGROVOC Term:	environment
AGROVOC Term:	biodiversity conservation
AGROVOC Term:	ecology
AGROVOC Term:	education
AGROVOC Term:	knowledge sharing
AGROVOC Term:	taxonomy
Geographical Term:	Malaysia
Depositing User:	Ms. Azariah Hashim
Date Deposited:	06 Sep 2024 00:15
Last Modified:	06 Sep 2024 00:15
URI:	http://webagris.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/1142

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