Environmental Education and participation in Colombia and Brazil

Abstract

Brazil and Colombia are leaders in biodiversity, natural wealth, and cultural diversity, and at the same time present internal conflicts in which violence threatens the viability of these systems. The historical violence that has stained their territories has generated power structures in which democracy has been seriously affected, weakening the forms of political and social participation of their communities. In this text we reflect on how environmental education as proposed in these countries has the potential to be a formative and political strategy. Dialogue, acknowledgement, and empowerment of the territory are pillars defended by Latin American environmental education.  And therefore, it promotes scenarios of participation in which the population can mobilize the cultural, social, and natural transformations that are needed in these countries.