Environmental Issues

A wide range of issues can be included in Education for Sustainability programmes. When selecting issues to study, schools should consider school, local, national, and global contexts. The range of environmental issues arising at a school level may include:

enhancing the school environment;
conserving energy;
establishing environmentally friendly practices;
preserving local ecosystems and historical landmarks;
reducing solid waste and litter.

Within the local environment, these issues may be more specific. For example:

residents of cities may be concerned about motorway developments, smog, or the use of landfills;
rural residents may be affected by deforestation, the siting of wind farms, the availability of suitable housing, or the effects of mining;
people who live near water may have concerns about water quality, commercial fishing, or the development of marine reserves;
groups of Māori may be concerned with the preservation of urupā, the return of Māori land, or the use of pounamu;
other groups may take up such issues as the eradication of predators or the protection of such endangered species as kākāpō, Hector's dolphin, tuatara, or kauri.

National environmental priorities in New Zealand are outlined on page 8 of the Government's Environment 2010 Strategy. They are:

managing our land resources;
managing our water resources;
maintaining clear, clean, breathable air;
protecting indigenous habitats and biological diversity;
managing pests, weeds, and diseases;
maintaining sustainable fisheries;
managing the environmental impacts of energy services;
managing the environmental effects of transport services;
managing waste, contaminated sites, and hazardous substances;
reducing the risk of climate change;
restoring the ozone layer.

Education for Sustainability issues in a global context include:

population control;
climate change;
energy consumption;
the sustainability of resources;
ozone depletion;
war;
famine;
disease;
water quality;
the maintenance of biodiversity;
whaling;
rainforests;
equitable access to resources;
the rights of indigenous peoples;
the use of fossil fuels;
international fishing agreements.

The relative importance of these issues for each region will vary, depending on their environmental priorities. For example, in some regions of the world, the primary focuses for Education for Sustainability are population control, famine, disease, water quality, and literacy.

Previous page | Table of contents | Next page