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Publications
Griffith University and the Department of the Environment, Sport & Territories, 1997
Marguerite Young
World Wide Fund for Nature
Australia
This workshop is one of the core modules in this series. It explores the links between development education and environmental education. Rarely are global issues or issues involving the future of our lives on earth concerned solely with development or environment. A world in which we live according to the principles of ecologically sustainable development relies on an interdependent world to which we all have a responsibility to contribute. Ecologically sustainable development (ESD) is defined for the purpose of this workshop as 'Improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems' as outlined in Caring for the Earth published by IUCN, UNEP and WWF (1991).
Through participation in the activities in this workshop, participants will:
The workshop consists of activities organised around three themes.
A. Ice breaker - initial reactions to a cartoon.
B. Warm up: To which type of education does the topic fit?
A. Mini-lecture on 'A Proliferation of Educations' and discussion on the similarities and differences between the two educations.
B. Two classroom activities which explore the links are analysed.
A. Mini-lecture and discussion on 'Education for the Future'.
B. Review of previous activities to ascertain if they cover the points in the educational rationale just explored.
The workshop concludes with a review/consolidation of key themes and with participants being given a follow-on assignment to devise a 40 minute classroom activity.
Overhead Transparency Masters
OHT 1: Workshop Overview
OHT 2: Which?
OHT 3: An Easy Puzzle!
OHT 4: Important Pupil Outcomes
OHT 5: Main Points of the Workshop
Resources
Resource 1: Cartoon Worksheet
Resource 2: Topics for Investigation
Resource 3: Four Educations? One Education?
Resource 4: Land Use Conflict Simulation
Resource 5: The Integrated Project in Arid Lands
Activity 1: Resource 2 needs to be photocopied and cut up so that there is a set for each group.
This workshop is fully self-contained and needs no additional resources. However the videos contained in the Only One Earth WWF Multi-Media Pack would be an asset if this pack is available.
Greig, S., Pike, G. and Selby, D. (1987) Earthrights: Education As If the Planet Really Mattered, WWF, London, pp 23-38.
Hicks, D. (1994) Educating for the Future: A Practical Classroom Guide, WWF, Godalming, UK.
Participant Activities
WWF Only One Earth WWF Multi-Media Education Pack, WWF, UK.
Dawson, L.Y. (1992) How to Interpret Natural and Historical Resources, WWF Latin American and Caribbean Program, Washington, DC.
A. Icebreaker: Initial Reactions
The purpose of this activity is to confront participants with their own initial reactions to a development/environment issue, and then to compare this initial reaction with how they feel at the end of the workshop.
B. Overview of the Workshop
To acquaint participants with the workshop, go through the sequence of points on OHT 1.
C. 'Which Type of Education?'
This activity provokes discussion as to which subject belongs where and leads participants to the realisation that there is much overlap between environmental and development education.
A. Mini-lecture and Discussion: 'A Proliferation of Educations'
The purpose of this part of the workshop is to consolidate participants' appreciation of the links between development education and environmental education. The best resource for this is Reading 3 from the Introduction section of this manual.
B. Classroom Activities that Explore the Links
This is the major part of the workshop and is based upon the two classroom activities in Resources 4 and Resource 5. Each activity explores the links between environmental and development issues. These activities are:
Resource 4: Land Use Conflict Simulation, in L. Dawson (1992) How to Interpret Natural and Historical Resources, WWF Latin America and Caribbean Program, WWF Washington, DC, pp. 87-91.
Resource 5: The Integrated Project in Arid Lands, in WWF (1989) Only One Earth WWF Multi-media Education Pack WWF UK, Godalming.
A. Mini-lecture and Discussion
The purpose of this activity is to provoke discussion that both types of education are about education 'for the future' and that the process of learning is as important as the content.
B. Review of Classroom Activities
In this activity, the classroom activities just studied are evaluated for their ability to educate 'for the future'. Participants also try to place these types of activities in the context of the school curriculum.
C. Review
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1. Foreign Aid |
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2. Pollution of Rivers |
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3. Recycling of Plastic Bags |
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4. War and Peace Issues |
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5. Hugging Trees |
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6. Rainforest Devastation in Amazonia |
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7. Tourism and its Impacts |
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8. Ecologically Sustainable Development |
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9. Over Population in the Third World |
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10. Over Consumption in the Developed World |
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11. Politics |
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12. Women and the Division of Labour |
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13. Racism |
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14. Sampling of Stream Water |
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15. Examining the Animals in Leaf Litter |
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16. Hunger |
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17. Refugees |
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18. Resources - their Distribution, Need, Consumption |
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19. Indigenous People's Land Rights |
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20. The Declaration of Protected Areas |
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21. Acid Rain in Europe |
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22. Poverty |
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23. Biotechnology |
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24. Multinational Companies |
Why is it difficult to conceive environmental education and development education as being discrete fields?
Source: Moir, Sydney Morning Herald, 28.8.92.
Answer the following questions at the beginning of the workshop.
1. What is your initial reaction to this cartoon?
2. What is the main issue involved in the cartoon?
3. Are the issues of environment and development an either/or situation? Is this really what development and environment issues are about or are the issues much more complex?
Please put this sheet away now till the end of the workshop.
Follow-on activity:
Using the cartoon devise a 40 minute classroom activity. Make sure your activity integrates both development and environmental issues and embodies the pupil outcomes discussed in the workshop.
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Source: Greig, S., Pike, G. and Selby, D. (1987) Earthrights: Education As If the Planet Really Mattered, WWF-UK, London, pp 23-38
Narrow focus
1. Problems of 'Third World' countries. (Teaching about development).
2. Implicit acceptance of Western view of development.
3. Solutions lie through aid.
4. Student involvement: charitable collections.
Broad focus
1. World development/interdependencies.
2. Non-Western perspectives given due emphasis.
3. Solutions lie in reforming economic/political arrangements within and between societies.
4. Student involvement: developing skills etc., for participation in decision-making processes. (Teaching for development)
Narrow focus
1. Teaching based on key international documents.
2. Emphasis on civil and political rights.
3. Implicit acceptance of Western view of rights.
4. Teaching about rights (history of rights, case studies etc.).
Broad focus
1. New rights, e.g. environmental rights also included.
2. Social and economic rights given equal emphasis.
3. Serious exploration of non-Wester perspectives.
4. Teaching for rights (i.e. developing skills) and in rights (i.e. democratic open classroom climate).
Narrow focus
1. Absence of war.
2. East-West conflict/disarmament.
3. Limited concept of peace.
4. Study/research skills in traditional classroom. (Teaching about peace).
Broad focus
1. Absence of war and injustice.
2. Disarming/dismantling oppressive structures globally.
3. Extended concept of peace including ecological balance.
4. Participatory skills within democratic classroom. (Teaching for and in peace).
Narrow focus
1. Local environment.
2. Traditional biological and geographical emphasis.
3. Implicit acceptance of Western perspective on the environment.
4. Developing caring interest in environment and practising study/research skills. (Teaching about the environment.)
Broad focus
1. Local/national/global/environmental interdependencies.
2. Exploring relationship between human behaviour and global ecosystems.
3. Serious exploration of non-Western perspectives on the environment.
4. Developing concerned awareness and participatory skills etc. (Teaching for the environment.)
Source: The Simulation Game About Landuse Conflict, in L. Dawson (1992) How to Interpret Natural and Historical Resources, World Wildlife Fund, Washington, DC.
Objectives:
Participants will be able to explain why the solutions to many environmental problems lie in the political process and why many environmental problems have no right or wrong answers. They will also be able to list reasons why it is so difficult to identify and implement environmental priorities for communities.
Age Group:
upper primary through adult
Time:
l to 1.5 hours Setting: a quiet outdoor area with seating, a classroom, or a meeting room Materials: copies of role cards on page 89-91, paper
Background
Many environmental problems stimulate a number of interest groups into action. These groups often have strong interests in issues such as ·
All of these issues can force people into fierce opposition. Basic beliefs about economics, human rights, consumer patterns, and even survival may be at stake. Often short-term goals are in conflict with long-term ones. With all of these conflicts arising, it is no wonder that communities have such a difficult time resolving environmental issues.
Using simulations, such as the one presented in this activity, is an environmental education method that can help participants analyse complicated issues. Having participants act out the roles of different community members often makes them more sensitive to other points of view. Sometimes this new awareness can help promote consensus in resolving a controversial issue.
Procedure
1. Divide the group into seven teams: Indigenous People, Subsistence Farmers, Cattle Ranchers, Re search Scientists, Government Officials, Lumber Company Officials, and Coffee Growers. Ask each team to pick an appropriate name for their group and to make a paper label with the team's name on it.
2. Tell the group that Monte Verde Tropical Rain Forest is an imaginary large forest that has been used by people for limited logging and small farms. Now, several groups are proposing that they be allowed to use the forest for large-scale operations such as logging, growing coffee, and raising cattle. Such uses would affect the small farmers and indigenous people who have lived in the forest for a long time. All the different groups are arguing about the so-called "right" way to manage the forest.
The government must decide what to do. Officials have scheduled a public hearing at which all interested parties will present their cases. The teams must prepare arguments or briefs to be presented at the hearing. The Government Officials team will hear all the arguments and then decide what to do.
3. Give each team a copy of its appropriate role card. Each team-except the Government Officials-must prepare a four-minute oral brief that summarizes the team's opinion on how the Monte Verde Tropical Rain Forest should be used over the next twenty years. Each team should try to persuade the Government Officials that its position is correct. Allow ten to fifteen minutes for the groups to prepare for the hearing.
4. The Government Officials should read their role card. Then they should appoint a member to chair the hearing, another to time the testimonies at the hearing, and a third to go around and find out who will be testifying at the hearing. Together, the officials should decide the order of testimonies and prepare an agenda. They may also want to discuss any opinions or feelings they already have on the use of Monte Verde Tropical Rain Forest.
5. The chair should call the hearing to order and go over the agenda. As the speakers present their cases, each Government Official should take notes. Officials may spend one to two minutes to ask a few questions after each brief is presented.
6. When all the teams have been heard from, the Government Officials may debate in private for five minutes. They must come to an agreement on a general land-use plan for the Monte Verde Tropical Rain Forest. (Note: They do not have to choose just one land-use plan-they can combine uses or suggest other alternatives.)
7. The chair will then read or present the officials' decision to the group.
8. Lead a group discussion on the solution adopted by the officials. You might discuss:
Note: Each of these roles will be played by a team of participants. Each person can make up his or her specific role within the team. For instance, the Cattle Ranchers team might be composed of the ranch owner, the ranch manager, ranch hands, and an investor.
Cattle Ranchers
You are part of a large cattle company with great amounts of money to invest in a ranch in the Monte Verde Tropical Rain Forest. You know that there is a great demand for beef in foreign countries and that you will not have any trouble selling your cattle for export. The government is selling land in the forest cheaply to promote the development of cash crops for export and to increase colonization efforts. Your company is willing to buy a very large piece of land. You have heard that there is trouble with ranching on forest land: People have settled there without owning the land, there are many diseases that can kill the cattle, and the pasture wears out after only a few years. But you are willing to take the chance. If your ranch succeeds, your company could become one of the largest in the nation. If the ranch fails, or the price of beef in foreign markets decreases rapidly, your company could lose a substantial amount of its investment. You will employ a large work force to clear the land. But after that, only a few seasonal workers will work on your ranch.
Indigenous People
You depend on the Monte Verde Tropical Rain Forest for your entire way of life. Your tribe lives in a small village in a remote area of the forest, but you need a large area of forest to hunt, fish, and gather food. You use many plants for food, medicines, and other materials (manioc, Brazil nuts, oil palms. rubber trees), and the fish and other animals of the forest provide you with necessary protein. Your traditions and beliefs are based on your view of the forest as provider. While you depend on the forest and use it freely, your culture does not believe that the land can be owned-you are allowed to use it, but it is not yours. If the forest is destroyed, you will lose not only the basics needed for survival, but also much of your cultural and spiritual heritage.
Lumber Company Officials
You work for a large lumber company in your country, and you are responsible for making decisions about where to cut timber in the Monte Verde Tropical Rain Forest. You know that there is a lot of valuable wood in the forest, but it is difficult and expensive to harvest. Your job is to maximize your company's profits by making it as cheap as possible to get the timber from the forest to the buyer. The trees you want to sell grow among others that are not valuable. In each area your company harvests, you must decide whether it is better to do selective cutting, in which you take only the valuable trees, or clear cutting, in which all the trees are cut down. You look for areas that are not too isolated and that have high concentrations of valuable trees so that the money received from timber sales is higher than the cost of building the roads and of harvesting the trees and transporting them. Problems you might encounter in your operations include other groups (Subsistence Farmers or Indigenous People) who may be living on potential harvest areas, heavy rains that make transportation difficult, and conservationists who want to prevent you from using the forest because it is the home of rare animals and plants.
Coffee Growers
Coffee is one of the major exports of your country. There is a great demand for coffee in other countries, and you can make a lot of money by planting large areas of the Monte Verde Tropical Rain Forest with coffee trees. The government is selling land there very cheaply, and you would like to buy a large piece to clear and plant with coffee. Your goal is to make the most amount of money in as little time as possible. You know that the forest soil is not very good for crops, but there is so much forest that you believe you can clear more land if your yields start decreasing. Some of the obstacles to your using the forest might be: people living on the land you want to clear: campesinos or indigenous people; opposition from conservationists, because clearing the forest for growing coffee could result in extensive erosion on hillsides or extinction of species due to habitat destruction; and outbreaks of pests or diseases that destroy your crop.
Government Officials
You are the ones who have to decide what to do with the remaining Monte Verde Tropical Rain Forest areas. You must listen to all the groups that want to use the forest and then tell them what should be done. As a government of the whole nation, you are concerned with the forest's ability to in crease your country's wealth, which will help modernize your society. You know that there are many important things the tropical forest can do for development, but you also realize that tropical forests around the world are vanishing and may disappear altogether if this destruction is not stopped.
Subsistence Farmers
You moved into the Monte Verde Tropical Rain Forest after a lumber company built a road into the virgin forest to haul out trees. You cleared a small plot of land not far from the road and planted some crops, such as manioc and corn. You depend on your land to grow all the food you need to eat. There is little, if any, extra to sell for cash. You have a spouse and four children, but only one child is old enough to help on the farm. You do not own the land you live on, but, because of your work, you feel it belongs to you. You have also cleared another plot of land nearby because the soil on your present plot is getting worn out. Other farmers have moved into your area, and you are worried that they will take over the new plot of land first. In addition to your worries about being able to grow your crops, a major concern is that cattle ranchers or coffee growers will buy legal title to your land from the government and will make you and your neighbours leave, with nowhere else to go.
Research Scientists
The main reason you are interested in the Monte Verde Tropical Rain Forest is its usefulness as a genetic resource, as well as for research. You know that there are probably large numbers of plants and animals that may be useful to people but that have not yet been discovered. You are concerned about all the groups of people using the forest because you know that species are disappearing almost every day due to what you consider unwise management practices. You would like to see much of the tropical forest in your country conserved through the creation of parks and natural areas, but you realize that there are already many people living in these areas. You think the government should plan now to save the remaining forest areas and protect them with strict regulations. You also think that the government should provide more opportunities for scientists to study the forest. You believe that some development of the forest would be acceptable, but should be carefully planned and regulated.
Source: Desertification, in WWF (1989) Only One Earth, WWF Multi-media Education Pack, WWF UK, Godalming.
In the mid-199Os, Rendille land was invaded by teams of scientists of various colours, nationalities and disciplines. These anthropologists, rangeland experts, soil scientists, hydrologists and meteorologists were known collectively as 'IPAL'-the Integrated Project in Arid Lands. IPAL had been set up by UNESCO, UNEP and the Kenyan government in order to find ways of improving the lot of the nomadic tribes of northern Kenya. (The IPAL project also covers the lands to the north, south and west of the Rendille, which belong to Gabra, Samburu and Turkana nomadic pastoralist tribes. It encompasses more than 8500 square miles, an area twice the size of the island of Jamaica.)
There are many reasons for the failure of aid projects which are designed to 'develop' traditional cultures; some have even done more harm than good. All too often they break down because they are dreamed up in places such as London and Washington' and then applied in the developing world by foreign teams with little idea of the life-styles of the people to be helped. Development consultants, who are based in European and North American capitals but work in the Third World on two- to three-year contracts, may have big budgets, but they have little time. They can rarely take years to study the peculiarities of the local people, their ambitions, their skills, their own ways of coping. Often there is only enough time to begin the building of a dam or an irrigation system, or the introduction of a new crop. But 'improvements' which may have worked well enough in the drylands of California. Australia or Israel do not necessarily succeed elsewhere.
The IPAL experts tried to avoid this classic error by taking their time. Rather than immediately recommending new techniques and building new things, they spent time studying the region closely. They decided early on that the most important variable in the region was not the rainfall, water tables or the soil, but the people.
Source: Only One Earth. L. Timberlake, BBC/Earthscan.
1. Read Extract 1. Lloyd Timberlake says that many aid projects fail. What reasons does he give for their failure?
2. How has IPAL tried to avoid these failures?
Dr Walter Lusigi, a Kenyan range ecologist and former project manager of IPAL, places humans firmly at the centre of the desertification problem, maintaining 'Man can justifiably be regarded as the dominant element in the grazing land ecosystems by virtue of his overwhelming impact upon them, exerted largely through his domestic animals.
Source: Only One Earth, L. Timberlake, BBC Earthscan.
'This area we are standing in now is a man-made desert,' said Dr Lusigi, looking out over the landscape around Korr. 'What has happened here is the result of introducing permanent water in a place where there should not have been permanent water at all. The people have been in here with their livestock and have overgrazed the area completely. They have cut down the trees. After the trees are gone, then the rain comes and strips the ground and the wind takes up the soil. That is the phenomenon we call desertification.'
Source: Only One Earth, L. Timberlake, BBC Earthscan.
3. Read Extracts 2 and 3 What does Dr Lusigi mean by his statement in Extract 2?
4. In Extract 3 Dr Lusigi has identified the reasons for desertification occurring around Korr. What are they?
IPAL not only 'integrated' its research, but integrated its prescriptions for saving the environment-many of which appear at first glance to have nothing whatsoever to do with the environment. One of the first things that the scientists realised was that they should avoid sentimentalising nomadism. Many Rendille were clearly anxious to settle. Trying to induce them all to return to the nomadic ways of life would have been a 'romantic notion', said Dr Lusigi. The goal is not so much to encourage all of the people to move again as to get their animals moving, giving over-used grasslands time to recover, But this does mean mobilising a reasonable number of herders in order to accompany the herds. and such mobility requires at least three things.
First, it must be physically possible. There must be enough wells scattered around the plains to enable the herds to move across those plains without dying of thirst. Thus. many small wells are being dug. If the herds are mostly camels, rather than sheep and goats. they can cover more ground with less water. Camels are also less destructive to the soil and the vegetation. Scientists have therefore been encouraging the Rendille to return to their traditional camel-based herding.
Second, nomadism must be made less of a hardship than it is at present. UNESCO workers are trying to establish 'mobile shops' on the backs of the camels of morani, so that consumer goods such as sugar, tea, flour, tobacco and radio batteries can be taken out to the fora camps. These same camels bring into Korr the milk and firewood necessary to the family members who have been left behind. especially the children.
Third, the Rendille must believe that by herding they can realise their ambitions, whether these be the purchase of a pair of jeans of the longer-term hope of sending all their children to school. The Rendille will not revert to a nomadic way of life just because a UN agency tells them to; it is essential that they see it as a better option than depending on food handouts in town, or chasing the few jobs available in Nairobi. For this reason UNESCO has gone into the livestock herding business itself. It has also organised the Pastoralists' Association, one of which D'igir Turoga heads.
In the past the Rendille did not need to sell livestock because they had little use for money. Now, however, there are the shops in towns such as Korr, as well as the new mobile shops. School fees come to the equivalent of £50 ($75) per year, with the added expense of uniforms and materials-this is a country in which the average annual income equals only a few hundred pounds. When the herders first began selling their stock, they were cheated by 'middle men': traders who took advantage of the herders' commercial naivete by buying cheaply in the drylands and then selling at higher prices in the animal markets of Nairobi. UNESCO has organised a monthly auction where it buys animals for sale in Nairobi. Each month a few members of the Pastoralists' Association take the livestock lorry to the capital, so that the herders can see how the Nairobi markets work. In doing this they are adding the skills of modern commercial dealing to their traditional herding and drylands survival skills.
Matters are helped by the fact that the main buying agent in Nairobi is a Rendille. also a member of the Association. But the Association is more than a club for the sale of livestock. In the old days, when each clan gathered in a manyatta there was a council of elders which met every morning to decide on the herding strategies of the day and of the days to come, As the manyattas were abandoned for the towns, this forum for exchanging information and passing on traditional knowledge vanished. The Association revives the practice. allowing for new learning in the process.
'It brings the pastoralists together.' said D'igir. 'And also it's good because there are new ideas which were not known before, especially where these animals are sold and where they are taken.'
Source: Only One Earth, L. Timberlake, BBC Earthscan.
5. Read Extract 4 Why did Lusigi think it a 'romantic notion' to try to induce the Rendille to return to the nomadic ways of life?
6. In the film, Dr Lusigi said that the animals-but not necessarily the people-of the Rendille must be encouraged to go on the move again to prevent the spread of further desertification around Korr Name three factors which IPAL has identified which may encourage the Rendille to get their livestock on the move again.
7. What does the Pastoralist Association do?
The 'Resource Management Plan' which IPAL initiated and which the Kenyan government and its Arid Lands Research Station have taken over is ambitious. It calls for the digging of 400 wells, one every ten square miles in the Rendille area alone. The cost of this would be about £800,000 ($1.2 million).
A start has been made, and in the process the contrasting methods of the traditional and the modern experts have been highlighted. D'igir Turoga travelled into the bush with a Californian hydrologist who took with him an expensive electronic seismograph. By using his eyes and studying the lie of the land and the vegetation. Turoga gave the verdict either. 'Here lies water' or 'No water here'. The hydrologist plugged his seismograph into the soil while his assistant banged a metal plate some yards away. As the reverberations through the ground were registered, he was able to take readings from the wave patterns on the device's oscilloscope. In every case the expert agreed with D'igir's eyeball assessment.
If the land is to be used efficiently. the Kenyan government will also have to take firmer measures against the banditry and inter-tribal raiding which still plague the region and put valuable grasslands out of use. Livestock raiding was traditionally a rite of passage for the young warriors. There were relatively few casualties in the days of spears, clubs and shields; wounds attracted the attention of young women and were something to boast about by the camp fire. With the advent of automatic weapons, a skirmish today can lea-e many dead. The situation is complicated by the fact that raiders may come from Ethiopia to the north and from Somalia to the east.
There are plans to bring in bamboo from around Mount Kenya to the south so that fencing can be provided without the herders having to cut down trees to make corrals. Hilltops to the east and west of the Rendille flatlands must be reforested to protect watersheds and to keep rains from becoming destructive floods. Co-operative livestock management systems dividing up rangelands among herders must be set up and enforced by local range-management officers, who must be hired and trained. Dr Lusigi wants to see savings and loan banks in the district and training provided so that the Rendille are able to learn how to manage money as well as camels.
These measures may seem to involve a great deal of trouble and expense just to keep a relatively small number of people gainfully employed in a hostile landscape. But the Kenyan government has strong motives for wishing to carry out the work. Kenya consumes and exports more meat than most African nations and well over half of that meat comes from the drylands. Ultimately, the success of IPAL and similar efforts made by dryland pastoralists may be crucial to human welfare and financial security throughout the African continent.
Source: Only One Earth, L. Timberlake, BBC Earthscan.
8. Read Extract 5 What does IPAL's Resource Management Plan suggest is the most effective way to halt desertification and improve the Rendille's way of life. Do you think the IPAL/Kenyan government initiative in Rendille territory is likely to succeed?
