ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND

EDUCATION

Introduction
At the beginning of the 21st century environmental issues have emerged as a
major concern for the welfare of people. In India, the concept of
environment protection can be seen starting from the period of Vedas. As
per Rigveda

O mother earth let thy bosom be free from sickness and decay
May we through long life
Be active and vigilant
And serve thee with
Devotion
-Rigveda

Moreover, father of Nation, Mahatma Gandhi also focused his work on

environment along with freedom movement, equality and social justice. As
per Father of the Nation

“the earth provides enough

to satisfy every man’s need,
but not for every man’s greed”.
-Mahatma Gandhi

1
Late Prime Minister Nehru and Mrs. Gandhi relentlessly campaigned for
protection, conservation and development of the environment. They brought
in several legislations and policies concerning environment.
Sundarlal Bhauguna through Chipko movement campaigned for protection
of environment. Annahazare campaigned for rain water harvesting.
Arundati Roy and Medha Patkar campaigned against major dams.

Bill Clinton is a major Brand Ambassador against Aids. Bill Gates and
Melinda Gates are major donors for social development in the world. Diana
campaigned against Land mines.

The wonderful team of P.V. Narasihma Rao, Manmohan Singh,

Chidambaram, Ahluwalia, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi as well as Vajpayee and
Yashwanth Sinha campaigned for reforms, economic development and
environment protection.

Environmental Education:
Environmental education generally refers to curriculum and programs which
aim to teach people about the natural world and particularly about ways in
which ecosystems work.
Environmental education programs often aim to change people's perceptions
about the value of the natural world and to teach how to change
environmental behaviors, such as getting people to recycle or how to build
eco-friendly dwellings.
In Western-style environmental education, the focus is mostly on
understanding ways in which humans and human systems impact on the
environment and non-human natural systems. However, it is also important

2
to teach and understand the impact of natural systems on humans and human
society. For example, why do natural places seem to have a calming, even
healing, effect on modern human beings?

Goals
Environmental education programs often aim to:
(i)Help students develop factual knowledge about the natural environment,
particularly with regard to how ecosystems work and human impacts on the
natural environment;
(ii) Foster more positive perceptions about the value of the natural world;
(iii)Develop eco-friendly habits, such as getting people to recycle and to
produce less waste
(iv)Engage students in environmental rejuvenation projects and action
(v)Develop students' psychological and spiritual relationship with nature

Why is Environmental Awareness Important

• Stimulate staff participation and encourage others to
become involved at all levels
• Allows you to realise REAL SAVINGS from your
resource efficiency programme
• Ensures People have a wider awareness of their
environmental impact

EMERGENCE OF NGOs IN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS IN

INDIA

3
NGOs are defined as the non-profit organization that exist outside the
control of any government, business, political party, or armed group. They
act as the mediator between govt. and citizensThe first lesson is that the
main source of environmental destruction in the world is the demand for
natural resources generated by the consumption of the rich.
The second lesson it is the poor who are affected the most by environmental
destruction.

NGOs have actively protested against developmental projects which are not
environmental friendly and have been able to stop them. They have
successfully closed many industries/factories which pollutes the
environment. An example can be taken of the Silent Valley movement. The
Chipko Movement for conservation of trees by Dasholi Gram Swaraiya
Mandal in Gopeshwar or the Narmada Bachao Andolan organized by
Kalpvariksh are some of the instances where NGOs have played a landmark
role in the society for the conservation of environment. There are
environmental NGOs like Greenpeace International and Friends of Earth
which have been relentlessly working towards making the world a better
place to live in.

NGOs Contribution for Environmental Protection

1. Conducting Education and awareness programs in the field of
environment
2. Fact-finding analysis
3. Filing public Interest Litigation
4. Innovation and experimenting in areas which are difficult for
government agencies to make change in

4
 5. Providing expertise and policy analysis
6. Providing factual and reliable information with a network of
professional expert staff
7. Remaining independent while passing relevant information to the
public and government bodies
8. Solidarity and support to environmental defenders
9. working in collaboration with the government for capacity building
and promotion of community participation in environmental
awareness and participation
10.working out at the grassroots level and reaching par-flug areas with or
without the government invitation

Formal Education, Non-formal Education and Informal Learning

While formal education can be understood as school education, non-formal

education is, according to the definition of the Educational Resources
Information Centre (ERIC) of the US Department of Education (ERIC),
“organized education without formal schooling or institutionalization, in
which knowledge, skills, and values are taught by relatives, peers, or other
community members” (ERIC, 1999). This includes any planned and
organized education outside school; for example, workshops, and seminars
conducted by NGOs, communities and businesses. Although formal
education can only provide education to students, non-formal education can
deliver it to the general public, especially those who are outside the reach of
formal education. Informal learning is “casual and continuous learning from
life experiences outside organized formal or non-formal education” (1999).

5
This includes learning in the family, workplace, social life, etc. Accordingly,
an increase in environmental information is a key to promoting informal
Learning. In this context, the media, and the use of it by other parties such as
government, NGOs and businesses, plays an important role.

GO-NGO COLLABORATION IN ANDHRA PRADESH

The Government of Andhra Pradesh set up the GO-NGO collaboration
committee under the Go.Ms.No.28, Dated 30-12-2004 of Planning (Plg VII)
Department. According to this Government order there will be committee at
state and district level. At the state level coordination committee Chief
Minister as Chair Person, Minister of Rural Development will be Vice
Chairperson and The retired civil servant with considerable experience in
development sector to be nominated as Executive Vice Chair Person and
other members will come from Principle Secretary to Government of
Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, Principle Secretary to Government
of School Education Department and Principle Secretary to Government of
Health Medical and Family Welfare.

The Benefits of Network Membership

When the effective partnership or networks exists between the GO-NGO
and the donor agencies, there will be fruitful benefits for the both sides. The
most commonly cited benefits for network members are:
• Access to information
Effective network or partnership will facilitate the tremendous needy
recourse information to NGO. Information is the key for social
transformation. Especially in networking organizations, diverse information

6
will be available on different issues regarding finance, functions and other
relating to the social development.
• Expertise
Collaboration is itself platform for diverse knowledge on social
development. NGO network or GO-NGO networks provides professional
knowledge and expertise to NGO. This will help to NGOs to change as the
professional organizations.
• Financial Resources
NGOs will get tremendous accessibilities to financial resources through the
effective networks. Most NGOs attach greatly to their independence from
government. They see themselves as voluntary organizations for social
development. Affiliation with the government and other developmental
agencies is the final end for NGOs to get financial assistance.
• Increased efficiency
These kinds of networks enhance the NGOs efficiency in the global
competitive development sector. NGOs need to maintain continuity in
increased efficiency. Efficient NGOs will exist in the competitive
development world and the competency will come through the
collaborations with different developmental organizations.
• Increases Impact Availability
Networking some of organizations with government and donor agencies is
the key for the effective functions of the organizations. Networks or
collaborations increase the impact availability to member organizations in
the network or partnership.

7
 • Solidarity and Support
NGOs will get the solidarity and support of the members and other
developmental organizations. In the present development circumstances
solidarity is the big asset for any NGO. Solidarity is a main concept for
speedy activities of the organization. But support even could be obtained
from people. Here solidarity can be obtained from partners and other
collaborators.

Impact of Environmental NGOs on Business Activities

National and International commitments for protection of environment by
entering into agreements/protocols made at the international level are
meaningless without their enforcement.
The reasons for poor implementation may be many:
• Lack of political will
• Scarcity of fund
• Decision taken in regard to environmental issues may not be very
sound
• Implication of such decisions could not be properly visualized
NGOs like worldwide Fund (WWF), Greenpeace, and Friends of Earth
operate at the global level. NGOs work very hard to gather public opinion.
Their efforts have brought changes in the policy of some companies
e.g.,Shell German oil giant, was planning to dump its wornout oil ship, the
Brent Spar in the North Sea. Greenpeace organized a boycott of the service
ststions of Shell, Germany, and thus prevented this from happening.
In another case, the government of Tiawan wanted to buy a piece of land in
North Korea to dump its Nuclear wastes. The Korean Federation of

8
Environment Movement opposed this move and prevented it from
happening. Thus NGOs can confront the government that do not act
rationally.