ABSTRACT
When there are conservation problems such as loss of habitat and threats to individual species, education is often seen as one of the solutions; and usually with the maxim that the more we know about a species or a particular habitat, and the more awareness we raise, the more likely we are to take action to protect and conserve it. However, implementing an education program as one of a number of conservation strategies is rarely straightforward. Almost four decades on from the Belgrade Charter (UNESCO, 1975) and Tbilisi Declaration (UNESCO, 1978), which outlined detailed principles and guidelines for environmental education, there is still very little understanding of exactly what environmental education is (Orr, 1994; Jacobson et al., 2006; Taylor, 2009). This applies across the social spectrum from grassroots projects to the formal curriculum-based education system and to policy makers; with those in the roles of educators and teachers struggling not only with some of the complex concepts of environmental education, but also with the daunting challenges of finding and implementing the most appropriate and relevant educational solutions.
