Community-based Social Marketing & Environmental Education

Abstract:

The Tbilisi Declaration (1977) defines Environmental Education (EE) as a learning process that increases people’s knowledge and awareness about the environment and its associated challenges, develops the necessary skills and expertise to address the challenge and fosters attitudes, motivations and committments to make informed decisions and take responsible actions. It is the route to developing one’s environmental literacy – developing someone who both individually and together with others makes informed decisions concerning the environment, is willing to act on these decisions to improve the well-being of other individuals, societies and the global environment and participates in civic life. It has now become crucial to inform the public of the intended works or changes in the evolution of EE.

It is with this milieu in mind that the appropriate development and effective execution of a public education/awareness campaign will be presented. Here the tool of Community-based Social Marketing (CBSM) among others will be highlighted to show how environmental awareness can be increased and by extension bring about the desired Behaviour change. CBSM is an attractive alternative to information-intensive campaigns due to its pragmatic approach. It involves selecting the behaviour to be promoted, identifying the barriers and benefits associated with the selected behaviour; designing a strategy that utilizes behaviour change tools to address the barriers and benefits, piloting the strategy and evaluating the impact of the programme. This approach argues that the hope for the resolution of environmental or “wicked” problems lies in increasing the ecological literacy of our general populace and empowering them to investigate, make clear decisions and take the necessary actions in relation climate change issues.

Authors:

Mrs. Sian N. Cuffy-Young

Year:

2016