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INTRODUCTION

The pursuit of sustainable development andenvironmental conservation policies, objectives andtargets requires the public to be sufficiently sensitizedabout the multiple dimensions of environment anddevelopment. Awareness and understanding ofenvironmental issues provide the basis and rationalefor commitment and meaningful action towardsenvironmentally sound and sustainable development.

This chapter provides an overview ofdevelopments in environmental education,information, awareness and training in the Asian andPacific region during the 1990s. The trends andpatterns in environmental education in formal andnon-formal sectors, and initiatives and programmesthat have been undertaken by governments,non-governmental organizations, communities andby regional and international organizations are alsoidentified. The underlying needs for environmentaleducation, information and communication are alsodiscussed with a particular emphasis on theconstraints and key issues that need attention.

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

A. Main Trends and ConditionsEducation has been identified as a critical

driving force for change in the Asian and PacificRegion, and countries and regional organizationshave adopted a range of strategies for implementingprogrammes in environmental education (Fien 1999a).The overall trends in environmental educationinformation and communication in the region reflectthe concerns of people and societies in transition.

Environmental education is now being seen asan instrument and a process that enables participationand learning by people of all ages, based ontwo-way communication rather than the oldparadigm of a one-way flow of information, fromteachers to pupils. The content and substance ofenvironmental education is also undergoing reviewand change. Reorienting education as a wholetowards sustainability involves the various levels offormal, non-formal and informal education at alllevels of society. Environmental education hasdeveloped within the conceptual framework thatemerged from the first international conference inTbilisi (1977) and is now seen as education forsustainability. This allowed environmental educationto address the broad range of issues and concernsincluded in Agenda 21 and others which evolvedthrough the meetings of the Commission onSustainable Development (UNESCO 1997).

The key international conventions onenvironment place a high value on public awareness,education and training and obtaining informationthrough monitoring as essential elements for thesuccess of the conventions. For example, theConvention on Biological Diversity, emphasizes theimportance of public education and awarenessthrough promoting and encouraging measuresrequired for the conservation of biological diversity.Since the convention came into force in December1995, the contracting parties (countries) have beenmotivated to address issues related to education andawareness on biodiversity.

In addition countries in the region recognizethe immensity of the challenges they face, and of thevital role that environmental education can play inmeeting these challenges. There is a growingperception by governments of the need to integrateenvironmental education information andcommunication into the country’s on-goingprogrammes. As a result of the Agenda 21, the levelof cooperation and collaboration betweenenvironmental and the educational institutions hasincreased. In some countries, governmentalenvironmental agencies have statutory requirementsto engage in activities related to environmentaleducation and awareness. For example, theMalaysian Department of Environment hasestablished an educational division under theEnvironmental Quality Act, which is actively engagedin promoting and implementing a variety of activities.

In many countries of the Asian and the PacificRegion environmental topics have been included ineducation courses, through integrating environmentalconcerns in other subjects and through specificcourses for the environment. Government, NGOs,educational institutions and media have undertakensome serious efforts to meet the growingenvironmental challenges by promotingenvironmental education, information andcommunication in their respective countries.Activities such as green bank, green press, eco-lubs,eco-polies, eco-farming and eco-harvesting; areemerging in the region. Special economic incentives(such as subsidy, tax-exemption and other incentives)are provided to schools in some countries whereenvironmental education courses are offered.

There is greater recognition of the role of NGOsand civil society organizations, and the need formeaningful community participation in debates andaction programmes aimed at education and trainingfor sustainable development. NGOs andgovernments are increasingly working together,reinforcing each other’s strengths and outreach.Linkages between governmental institutions and

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NGOs are improving in most countries of the region,and in some cases, governments are actuallydepending on mature and experienced NGOs topromote environmental awareness, communication,and training activities (See Chapter 14).

B. Formal Environmental EducationEnvironmental education is increasingly a

prominent part of primary, secondary and tertiaryeducation in Asia and the Pacific. The formaleducation sector plays a vital role in environmentaleducation and awareness by exposing the youngergeneration to the information, issues, analyses andinterpretations on environment and development.

A number of factors have influenced thedevelopment of environmental education in theregion. The two over-arching factors are nationaleducation policy and national environment andpopulation policy. These policies are a reflection ofnational cultural values, priorities and socio-economicgoals in most countries. The national environmentaleducation policy is usually the result of decisionsmade in these broader fields (UNESCO-PROAP 1996).For example, environmental education in Australiahas seen two major shifts since 1970s. First, therehas been a distinct move away from nature andscience-based environmental education to a concernwith the social, economic and political aspects ofsustainable development. There has also been amajor shift from schools to adult and communityenvironmental education. (Fien 1999b).

Rather than establishing a new subject, mostcountries have opted to infuse environmentaleducation objectives and strategies into the existingcurricula, while some other countries practice bothoptions. In addition, the focus on practical learningin the real world in environmental education helpsschools to address important general educationalobjectives related to values and to skills development(UNESCO-PROAP 1996).

Nationally determined syllabi often provide fora coordinated programme of environmental topics inboth primary and secondary schools in countries ofthe region. However, there is some lack ofcoordination at different levels of education in thenational framework, which prevents the developmentof a comprehensive environmental educationprogramme.

1. Primary and Secondary LevelsThe diversity of approaches in primary and

secondary education seen across the Asian and PacificRegion are based on each country’s major andthreatened resources, and issues of concern. Forexample, in the Maldives, environmental education

and awareness programmes highlight issues of themarine environment emerging from the NationalEnvironment Action Plan of 1989 (IUCN 1998).Whereas in Nepal, the national goals of educationare to teach thoughtful protection and wise use ofthe natural environment and national heritage. InNepal, the general need of environmental protectionfrom specific problems resulting from populationpressure on natural resources, and the links betweenenvironment, population and natural resources, wereaddressed in the environmental education plan(IUCN 1998).

In Republic of Korea, during the 1990s,“Environment” and “Environmental Science” wereincluded in the middle school curriculum as separatecourses, attributing to the common understandingthat environmental education for young children wasthe most important means to solve persistentenvironmental pollution (Kang 1999). In order toraise young people’s awareness of environmentalpreservation, and to cultivate environmentalperspectives, the Republic of Korea designated63 schools as demonstration environmental schoolsfrom 1985, and has disseminated their best practicesto an additional 26 schools in 1999. These schoolsare now eligible for subsidies and environment-related educational materials (Green Korea 1999).

In People’s Republic of China, environmentaleducation is coupled with the working schedule ofpublic agencies and educational institutions. Thiswas formalized by a regulation issued by the NationalBureau in the Conference of National EnvironmentalEducation in 1992. At pre-school and primary levels,environmental education is carried out throughgames, audiovisual means and the study of naturalsystems. In secondary schools, environmentalconcepts are infused into the courses of physics,chemistry, biology and geography. At the same time,the teachers use local examples to help developenvironmental understanding among the students(UNESCO-PROAP 1997).

In small island countries of the South Pacificsubregion, considerable effort is directed towardsinfusion of environmental education into varioussubjects within the primary and secondary schoolsystems. The syllabus for the secondary level has astrong emphasis on environmental studies, developedeither independently, as in the Solomon Islands andPapua New Guinea, or in collaboration with the SouthPacific Regional Environmental Programme, SPREP(Ravuvu 1998).

2. Tertiary LevelTertiary level education has responded to the

increasing demand for environmental managers and

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experts in the 1990s. Key trends have been observedacross the region in relation to environmentaleducation at tertiary level these include:

• basic environmental concepts and elementsadded to existing courses at undergraduate andpostgraduate levels, for all students irrespectiveof their courses;

• new environmental units or modulesintroduced into a large number of courses atundergraduate and postgraduate levels, thusincreasing the depth and detail ofenvironmental study;

• new non-degree programmes and courses(at foundation, certificate or diploma levels)introduced by tertiary education institutions tocater to the demand for in-service training andupgrading of knowledge and understandingon environmental issues and practices;

• an increase in the publication of relevanttextbooks and audio visual material;

• greater emphasis on training the trainers, andin strengthening the tertiary education systemand research capabilities;

• more research on environmental educationpolicies and practices;

• a greater dialogue and information exchangebetween the users of environmental skills andtalent, in government, private and NGO sectorsetc., and the institutions of tertiary education,ensuring, education and training addressprevailing practical needs; and

• increasing emphasis placed on adult andcommunity education, using both formal andnon-formal methods to raise the overallenvironmental literacy levels.

Increase in environmental studies has been aresponse to the market realities, and also to thegrowing recognition of the environmental crisis andthe management options available. Countries haveadopted different mechanisms to cater to their specificneeds in tertiary education. For example, in VietNam in 1995, the Ministry of Teaching and Educationmade it compulsory for a course in Environment andMan to be taught in all aspects of natural sciences,social sciences, humanities, agriculture etc., with morespecialized environmental science and technicalcourses in other university courses. Since the early1990s, short, medium and long-term postgraduatecourses for environmental managers and researchershave been conducted in various specialized centres(UNESCO-PROAP 1997).

Specialized degree courses have beenintroduced in Thailand, at graduate level, withcompulsory course introduced and targeted to first

year undergraduates. The courses raise awarenessand understanding of topical environmental issuesand are integrated with other courses, especiallyscience and social science (UNESCO-PROAP, 1997).

In People’s Republic of China and Pakistan,many colleges and universities have introducedenvironmental courses for undergraduates andpostgraduates, and have also directed then towardstraining professionals and officials. In Mongolia,the government has prepared a masterplan forenvironmental education and awareness, which willcover both formal and non-formal education andcommunication (IUCN 1998).

However, constraints that prevent countries inAsia and the Pacific from achieving theirenvironmental education and training needs areevident. At a UNESCO sponsored regional seminaron environmental education in 1996, it was noted:“Each country has already initiated a number ofeducation and training programmes at the tertiaryor higher level of education that are related to aspectsof the environment. In various ways and to varyingdegrees, each of the countries has responded to theproblems of the environment with environmentallaws and regulations, and with associated politicaland institutional initiatives. However, in all countries,the development of persons with the conceptualunderstandings and skills that these regulatoryintentions require for implementation andmanagement lags well behind what is needed”(UNESCO-PROAP 1997).

3. Materials and Study AidsIn line with the growing interest and activity

in environmental education, awareness and training,the demand for educational materials and study aidshas also increased. However, the limited availabilityof materials may not meet individual countryrequirements in terms of local language, and incoverage of the most relevant issues to the country.

Many government and non-governmentinstitutions have risen to this challenge. For example,in Malaysia, the Academy of Writers was enlisted toproduce storybooks that will instill environmentalvalues and attitudes amongst primary schoolchildren. A similar initiative has been made in theSouth Pacific subregion where there have been severalefforts to produce locally relevant environmentaleducation material at the primary and secondaryschool levels.

A widely felt constraint has been the lack ofstandardization in textbooks and other material onenvironmental issues and a failure to provide thefull information base. While the subject ofenvironment can be interpreted and presented inmany ways, and it can be looked at through a

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scientific or cultural angle, there is a basic need topresent facts accurately and discuss issues in abalanced manner. If this is lacking, the wider goalsof environmental education cannot be met. Anextensive review of environmental textbooks,supplementary readers and other material is requiredin many countries of the region as part of a processto improve their quality.

Establishment of environmental study centreshas helped a great deal in developing materials andstudy aids for both formal and non-formalenvironmental education. Such centres also providestudents with information, insights and practicalactivities, and adult visitors gain information andadvice. In Indonesia, the Ministries of Environmentand Education have been collaborating since 1979 inestablishing Environmental Study Centres (PSLs) inall public universities. By 1997, there were more than72 PSLs covering all 27 provinces of Indonesia. Thesecentres perform three functions: education andtraining pertaining to environmental management;extension services, fostering public education andawareness; and research and surveys in support ofenvironmental management.

The Department of Environmental QualityPromotion (DEQP) in Thailand has supported theestablishment of Provincial Environmental EducationCentres (PEEC) in selected schools since 1995 andare expected to expand these to every province by2001. The main objectives are to developenvironmental education materials and tools inrelation to local environmental problems, and tostrengthen the capability of environmental educatorsin all parts of the country.

4. Issues and ConstraintsThere are many constraints and barriers to the

widespread adoption and practice of environmentaleducation in the region. In the formal educationsector, class sizes are often large and teachers lackresources and experience in interactive pupil-centredteaching strategies. School curricula are alsodominated by competitive academic curricula whichprioritizes end–of-course examinations anddiscourages the development of locally andpersonally relevant intellectual skills. Outside theformal education sector, environmental education isoften poorly organized and resourced.

Another common constraint is the lack of clearintegration of environmental education objectivesand programmes with national education andenvironmental policies. In some countries, theabsence of national policies or guidelines forenvironmental education has resulted in a lack ofcoherent strategies and long term planning. Even inthose countries which do have such policies, the

educational systems are often insufficiently dynamicto accommodate the evolving social, economic,political and conservation aspects of sustainabledevelopment.

The important pre-requisites for the successfulintroduction of environmental education in schoolsinclude: the existence of clear and wellcommunicated policies; the political will andavailability of sufficient resources for implementation;curricula revision; proper preparation of teachersthrough in-service training; the availability of relevantmaterials in local languages; networks for exchangeof expertise between teachers; and adequateassessment and incentives for teachers development.It is encouraging to note that in spite of manyconstraints, practitioners and promoters ofenvironmental education have found innovative waysof teaching throughout the region.

C. Non-formal EducationNon-formal environmental educational

activities exist alongside the formal educationalsystems, at curricular and extra curricular levels, inoccupational training, and through wide publicawareness activities through non-formal channelssuch as mass media, and voluntary organizations.Different communities, institutions and individualschoose methods and practices that best suit their localneeds and capacities.

1. Learning by DoingIn several countries, there are efforts to get

students to relate to local problems, whileunderstanding their global implications. InBangladesh, an environmental education programmecalled Muktangan Siksha, or open-air education,encourages field programmes related to thesurroundings and communities. In Myanmar, animaginative pre-school and lower primaryenvironmental programme bases its teaching on astudy of the surroundings, or patwinkyin, withoutformal textbooks (Kartikeya V. 1995). In Sri Lanka, aWWF-supported innovative environmental educationprogramme involving over 750 schools has beenimplementing an approach called ‘greening oflearning’. In this, students are encouraged to beautifythe school garden, start a plant nursery or engage inother ‘green’ activities within the school premises.Due to its success the WWF has started introducingthe same concepts and approaches in other countries,such as Viet Nam.

Research and advocacy organizations areincreasingly involved in developing non-formalenvironmental activities. For example, DevelopmentAlternatives (DA) located in India, has launched theCommunity Led Environmental Action Network

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(CLEAN) which promotes among school children andcommunities activities based on the “four r” concept:refuse, reduce, recycle and reuse (DA 1998). In severalcountries, government agencies or NGOs supportnature clubs or environmental societies in schools asa means of encouraging and inspiring students toundertake non-formal environmental activities.

2. Outdoor ActivitiesGovernment agencies as well as NGOs have

developed a wide array of outdoor activities thatexpose youth and adults to different aspects ofenvironmental awareness, action and understanding.For example in Nepal, Environmental Camps forConservation Awareness (ECCA), a local NGO, hasbeen active for over a decade in organising outdoorenvironmental activities aimed at children, both ableand disabled. These camps are held at places ofenvironmental significance and aim to raiseawareness about conservation issues, and to potentialcareers in conservation.

Similar environmental camps have become aregular feature in many countries. For example, inMalaysia, environmental awareness camps areregularly organized by the Department ofEnvironment. The camps are for children between14 and 16 years of age, at the Nature Education Centre(NEC) established in 1992 by the Malaysian NatureSociety. In Singapore, the Ministry of Environmentallocates small portions of the beach to volunteeringschools under an ‘Adopt a Beach’ programme.Students are then responsible for keeping that stretchof the beach clean, and in that process learn aspectsof the coastal and marine environment.

The China Association for Science andTechnology (CAST) is engaged in the promotion ofnon-formal science education for children and youth.CAST has 165 natural science societies and isestablished at county level all over the country. CASTrelies on its member scientists and technologists toprovide the knowledge base and necessary humanresources for various activities organized to promotebetter understanding of science, technology andenvironmental issues. Also in People’s Republicof China, the State Environmental ProtectionAdministration (SEPA) is playing a lead role innon-formal activities, and has introduced theGlobal Learning and Observations to Benefit theEnvironment (GLOBE) Programme, a worldwidenetwork focusing on science and education, whichbrings together students, teachers and scientists inorder to share information on monitoring the globalenvironment.

In Australia, Waterwatch was established in theearly 1990s as a national level, community-basedwater quality monitoring programme under the

National Landcare Programme. Monitoring waterquality on a regular basis gives communities a greaterunderstanding of the natural environment, and maylead to action which will have local, regional or evennational benefits (Palmer J. 1995). Both schoolchildren and adults participate in water monitoringactivities, and government funding is providedthrough facilitators who have been appointed in eachstate attached to a lead state government agency.

3. Innovative ApproachesNew strategies and innovations for

environmental education have been developed andapplied throughout the region. For example, inSingapore, the Ministry of Environment in 1996published the ‘Fun and Discovery ThroughEnvironmental Clubs’, outlining environmentalactivities and clubs. Similar publications have beendeveloped in Japan, India and Bangladesh.

The observation of National Environment Daysand Weeks across the region, provide a focal pointfor environmental activities, including seminars andexhibitions. In New Zealand, school education kitson sustainable agriculture are also provided toeducate young people about agriculture and to surveychanges in land management and planning.

Japan, has various examples of innovativeeducation, public awareness and training activitiesincluding, Environmental Counselor RegistrationSystem, the Environmental Activities EvaluationProgramme and various campaigns for conservationof natural resources and energy. In addition to theseprogrammes, the “Junior Eco Club programme”supported by the Environment Agency has been avery effective programme at the elementary andjunior high school age children level. Club activitiesare supported by local governments, and anationwide festival for the Club is organized at theend of each school year. There are about 4 000 clubswith 70 000 children in Japan and its popularity isincreasing (ITO 1999).

Rising to the challenge of going beyond mereawareness raising, the Centre for EnvironmentEducation (CEE) in India has produced an exhibitionpackage called ‘Act Now’. It focuses on some actionsthat people can take in their everyday lives to helpimprove the environment. Another environmentaleducation package produced by CEE consists of aone-hour video story in Hindi called Dhraki, whichdiscusses some concepts of drought, conservation ofwater, land and vegetation, and the management ofexotic plant species. The accompanying bookletsuggests ways of developing activities that willinvolve children or other viewers on these issues andthemes and has been used widely in classrooms,environmental camps and workshops. In response

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to the lack of material the CEE has also developedthe Environmental Education Bank, providingsituation specific material for use in both formal andnon-formal instructional situations. Such materialsinclude physical resources like posters, kites, booklets,films, publications and a computerized database ofover 800 environmental concepts, 2 500 activities and600 case studies. The Bank is usually accessedthrough a five-day workshop, organized by theCentre at the request of small groups.

In Thailand, an example of innovativeeducation and public awareness activities relatedto sustainable development is a Management ofScience and Environment course in Hard AmraAksornluckvittaya School, in Samutprakan Province.This project used local problems, such as a degradedmangrove, to let the student groups analyse problemssystematically, searching for options and solutionsand preparing work plans for action. As a result,teachers and students replanted the mangroves inthe Asokaram Temple and used the area as a studysite.

ENVIRONMENTAL TRAINING

Agenda 21 states that training is one of the mostimportant means to develop human resources andfacilitate the transition to a more sustainable world.“It should have a job-specific focus, aimed at fillinggaps in knowledge and skill, and would helpindividuals find employment and be involved inenvironmental and developmental work. At the sametime, training programmes should promote a greaterawareness of the environment and developmentissues as a two-way learning process” (UnitedNations 1993).

A. Types of Training

1. Teachers in Formal EducationIn a large number of countries in the region,

teacher-training programmes at both pre-service andin-service levels have incorporated elements ofenvironmental education. In general, governmentsof most the Asian and Pacific Region are responsiblefor training teachers in formal environmentaleducation. In Malaysia, the establishment of NationalInstitute for Environmental Skill and Training(IKLAS) is an important step forward for theDepartment of Environment to equip its ownpersonnel, as well as staff of other related governmentagencies and private sector, with the knowledge andskills for pollution control and sound environmentalmanagement. The IKLAS is expected to beoperational by the year 2001 (Malaysia EnvironmentalQuality Report 1996). Similarly, in Thailand, the

Ministry of Education has trained teachers,administrators, educational planners, and non-formaleducators. In Sri Lanka, March for Conservation, auniversity-based NGO, has designed modules forintroducing environmental concepts to primary andsecondary teachers, and conducts short-term trainingprogrammes for teachers.

Regionally, initiatives for training teachersfocus mainly on material development and trainingof trainers. Learning for a Sustainable Environment:Innovation in Teacher Education through EnvironmentalEducation Project is a joint undertaking of UNESCO’sAsia Pacific Centre for Educational Innovation forDevelopment (ACEID) and Australia’s GriffithUniversity. This long-term project seeks to expandthe range of innovative practices used in teachingeducation programmes by introducing teachers andteachers-in-training to the curriculum planning skillsand teaching methodologies of environmentaleducation.

In the South Pacific subregion, teacher trainingin formal education is seen to be the key to the successof environmental education in schools. A teacher’sguide to environmental education has been producedfor adaptation by all countries. Several teacher-training workshops have been held at national andsubregional level, where the teachers are encouragedto use outdoor education and investigative learningapproaches.

2. Practitioners of Non-Formal EducationTraining for the practitioners of non-formal

education is less systematic in most countries, andon the whole fewer opportunities exist. This is partlydue to the enormous diversity of professionalbackgrounds of the individuals engaged innon-formal environmental education activities. Mostnon-formal education activities are designed andcarried out by NGOs or community organizations,whose large numbers and wide geographical spreadmakes it difficult to expose them to centralized andlong-term training programmes. More effective intheir case are short-term refresher courses and skillsdevelopment seminars and workshops.

The Indian Centre for EnvironmentalEducation, offers a training Programme inEnvironmental Education for Indian and overseasparticipants and introduces various approaches andmethods in communicating environmental messagesto different target groups. The CEE in cooperationwith IUCN and WWF also offers a Certificate Coursein Environment Education (CCEE) as a means ofin-service training for professionals already engagedin environmental education work. The Centre forEnvironmental Concerns (CEC) in the Philippines,offer a course that includes elements of community-

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based rehabilitation technology, community-basedenvironmental monitoring, and participatoryapproaches to environmental education.

In Bangladesh, the Environment and SocialDevelopment Organization (ESDO) has conducted,with the support of the Advocacy Institute in the US,several national workshops to train local activists,with examples of strategies and practices of the UScounterparts. In the South Pacific subregion,organizations like SPREP and the SPC (Secretariat ofthe Pacific Community) have concentrated onproviding communication skills for extension workersin specific fields such as fisheries, coral reefmonitoring and conservation area management.

3. Training Media ProfessionalsTraining and sensitising journalists on different

aspects of the environment remain urgent needs inmost countries of the region where the standards ofenvironmental reporting are low. Even journalistsand broadcast producers who are well trained in theircraft face new challenges in reporting on issuesrelated to environment and sustainable development.The technical nature of most environmental issuesrequires the ability to grasp these technicalities andthen to interpret these in layman’s terms. Manyenvironmental stories involve the assessment of risksand the weighing of costs and benefits, all of whichrequire experience, skill and a strong sense of balancein journalists.

In spite of a decade of heightened interest inenvironmental journalism in the region, the formaltraining courses and curricular for journalists in manycountries do not as yet pay sufficient attention to thespecialized needs of environmental journalism.However, some national forums of environmentaljournalists regularly organize short training activities,including workshops, seminars conferences etc., forthe benefit of their members and other environmentaljournalists. The national forums in Bangladesh,People’s Republic of China, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal,Pakistan, Philippines and Sri Lanka have beenparticularly active in this respect. For example, from1995 the Japanese Forum of Environmental Journalists(JFEJ) has organized an annual environmental studytour of Japan for selected journalists from both printand electronic media in the region. Journalists andproducers are exposed to Japanese environmentalpolicy and practice through a series of lectures,discussions.

At a regional level, several initiatives arenoteworthy. UNEP has conducted severalworkshops, seminars and training programmes underits Environmental, Communication and InformationStrategy for Asia and the Pacific (1995-2000). Ahigh-level meeting was held in Beijing, People’s

Republic of China, in 1996 that brought togethereditors and managers from leading publications inthe region to discuss how to boost environmentrelated coverage in the media. Parallel to this,training workshops were organized forenvironmental journalists drawn from severalcountries in the region.

In the Pacific Island countries, SPREP andUNESCO have cooperated on a series of national‘Environment and Media’ workshops to traintelevision, radio and print journalists in incorporatingenvironmental issues in their reporting. Five trainingworkshops were held in 1999 (Samoa, Tonga,Marshall Islands, Cook Islands and Fiji) and anadditional 4 are proposed for 2000.

One weakness in short-term training activitiesavailable for journalists is that most programmes aretargeted only at the print media, with relatively fewopportunities for journalists and producers workingin radio and television. With this in mind, regionalorganizations have started supporting training forbroadcast journalists. Panos South Asia office, basedin Kathmandu, is placing particular emphasis ontraining radio journalists to improved coverage ofenvironment and development. Panos has alsoorganized several field study tours for environmentaljournalists from South Asia to better understand thecomplex issues of trans-boundary water resourcesharing and management (Panos 1998).

The training of audio-visual communicationsis another widely felt training need and severalorganizations are now engaged in offering suchtraining. The Worldview International Foundationregularly conducts training courses for NGO activistsand media professionals in the use of video fordocumenting environmental abuses, issues andproblems. Meanwhile, the Television Trust for theEnvironment (TVE) annually organizes a technicalskills development workshop for NGO professionalson using television and video for awareness andadvocacy work. It has also conducted national leveltraining programmes on environmental videoprogramme making for producers in People’sRepublic of China, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, eachtied up to an actual production that was laterbroadcast. In mid 1999, Panos and TVE collaboratedin organising a South Asian level workshop thatexposed mainstream print and broadcast journaliststo the effective ways of using the Internet forresearching environmental stories, and alsodisseminating them through the World Wide Web.

4. Specialized and Technical TrainingThe number of specialized training

programmes at country and regional levels hasincreased since the 1990s, a reflection of the greater

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market demand for specialized environmental skillsand environmental managers. Traditional areas ofenvironment related specialized training includesprotected area management, environmental qualitymonitoring and environmental information systems.Relatively new areas of training include,environmental economics, environmental impactassessment (EIA) and in the adoption andimplementation of environmental standards,especially the ISO 14000 series. In Malaysia, forinstance, universities have worked with experts fromthe SIRIM Industry Standards Committee on theEnvironment to produce both training materials andtraining modules for ISO 14000 implementation.

Training activities are also conducted by someof the larger and well-established NGOs workingnationally or regionally. For example, the Society forParticipatory Research in Asia (PRIA), based in NewDelhi, India, regularly organizes national and regionallevel training courses and programmes onoccupational and environmental health. The UNEPInternational Environmental Technology Centre(IETC), based in Osaka, Japan, organizes specializedtraining programmes at regional and subregionallevel under its capacity building initiative.Professional target groups for its post-graduatetraining interventions are decision-makers in centraland local governments, civil society and industry,academia, NGOs and senior trainers attached to

regional or national environmental training centres.Other specialized training includes the

Regional Community Forestry Training Centre(RCFTC), Thailand, which runs several courses onareas such as community-based ecotourism for forestconservation and rural development, offered incollaboration with the Institute of Forestry in Nepal.The United States-Asia Environmental Partnership(US-AEP) is a regional initiative that providestechnical assistance and training to Asiangovernments, business and industry, and NGOs inrelation to environmental management andtechnologies. Training focuses on five criticalenvironmental areas: addressing global climatechange; providing safe drinking water andwastewater management; reducing urban airpollution; promoting solid waste management(including medical waste and landfill methanerecovery); and participating in regional policy projectson performance matrix, environmental managementsystems, and public disclosure (US-AEP 1998). ThePacific Islands Climate Change AssistanceProgramme (PICCAP) at SPREP, undertakesGreenhouse Gas Inventory and Vulnerability andAdaptation Assessment (V&A) training for countrieswho have insufficient capacity to undertake thesetasks, in order to fulfil their obligations under theUnited Nations Framework Convention on ClimateChange (Box 15.1).

Box 15.1 PICCAP: A Training Success in the South Pacific

The Pacific Island Climate Change Assistance Programme (PICCAP) is a GEF funded regional climate change project. Itinvolves 10 Pacific Island countries (Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Samoa,Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu) and is coordinated and executed by the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).PICCAP has been designed in such a way as to strengthen the capacities of participating countries, in terms of training, institutionalstrengthening and planning activities, to enable them to meet their reporting obligations under the United Nations FrameworkConvention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In less than three years, PICCAP has achieved excellent results. Through its subregional approach, PICCAP has fosteredgreater sharing of information, built up a qualified pool of climate change experts from within the South Pacific subregion, institutedcross-sectoral climate change country teams with technical and policy-related functions, established a database of climate changeinformation, and assisted with the development of national climate change action plans which have formed the basis for initialnational communications and the implementation of the UNFCCC at national level. Much effort has gone into the training andrelated activities needed to the build in-country capacity that has allowed these countries to prepare and report on their nationalgreenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, GHG mitigation strategies, assessments of vulnerability to climate change impacts and ofadaptation options, national climate change action plans, and enabled their initial national communications to the UNFCCC.

One notable achievement under PICCAP has been the design, development, and delivery of a comprehensive university-basedvulnerability and adaptation certificate programme for the region. This was done in conjunction with the Climate Change TrainingProgramme implemented by UNITAR and with cofunding from the Government of New Zealand, and included the transfer ofentire training course from the originating institution (the International Global Change Institute IGCI, University of Waikato,New Zealand) to a regional institution, the University of the South Pacific in Fiji.

PICCAP is an example of a subregional training and technical and policy-related cooperation activity that has enhancednational capacities to address an environmental issue of critical importance to the small island developing states of the Pacific.

Source: IGCI, New Zealand

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B. Main trends and ConditionsAs countries in the Asian and Pacific Region

address environmental management problems andcreate institutional mechanisms in response, thetraining needs in environmental related sectorscontinue to expand rapidly. A variety of trainingand skills development activities are being pursuedat local, national, subregional and regional levels bygovernments, NGOs as well as by international andinter-governmental organizations in the region. Interms of content, duration, methodology, instructionmechanisms, types of participants and other factors,there is great diversity, but the end result is an overallstrengthening of skills and capacity to better managethe environment and natural resources. The needfor greater numbers of trained personnel in a widerrange of environment related disciplines and skillsare required for:

• the implementation of National EnvironmentalManagement Plans (NEMPs) or action plans(NEAPs);

• servicing of international environmentalconventions and treaties that many countrieshave become parties or signatories to, each ofwhich places specialized demands andrequirements on the participating countries;

• the adoption of international environmentalstandards, such as ISO 14000, as well asenvironmental policy and management toolsincluding environmental impact assessment,environmental audits and eco-labelling, whichrequire well-trained and highly skilledpersonnel in sufficient numbers withingovernment, industry and other sectors; and

• the provision of environmental procedures,systems and checks, demanded by theincreased environmental awareness of thepublic. Market forces are also demandinggreater commitment to, and professionalism in,environmental management and compliance.

A question often arises as to who should betrained given the limited available resources. Whileenvironment related training is needed across theboard in a large number of sectors, professions andpursuits, some prioritization is required to identifyareas for immediate support and intervention. Inthis regard, UNEP’s Environmental Education andTraining Unit identified the following categories forpriority environmental training: teachers, teachertrainers and teachers’ curricula developers; studentsat all levels; policy makers; decision makers; mediaprofessionals; and other opinion leaders andmultipliers.

In addition, foreign service personnel whonegotiate environmental conventions on behalf oftheir countries; government officials who negotiatedonor funding support for development projects;managers and administrators in educational andmedia institutions, who often act as gatekeepers,deciding what training and exposure trainees willreceive, have all been identified as target groups forenvironmental training.

C. National Networks For EnvironmentalTrainingNational level networks of tertiary level

institutions have been formed in several countries ofthe region to share resources and efforts in providingenvironmental training. One such network is thePhilippine Association of Tertiary Level EducationalInstitutions in Environmental Protection andManagement, PATLEPAM, which by mid 1999 hadlinked over 300 higher educational institution. It hasconducted training programmes in environmentalimpact assessment, and a large number of seminarsand workshops on environment and education(Supetran 1999). UNEP/NETTLAP has catalysed theformation of two country level networks in Thailandand Malaysia for environmental training andresearch. These networks, known by their acronymsTHAITREM and MATREM respectively, have broughttogether dozens of tertiary level institutions in eachcountry for undertaking collaborative research andtraining activities.

The Australian Environmental EducationNetwork (AEEN) is a national network ofenvironmental education and informationprogrammes, materials and publications. TheNetwork includes access to materials andprogrammes produced within the FederalEnvironment Portfolio, States/TerritoriesEnvironmental Education Resources, a number ofcurrent school and community environmentalprogrammes, and links with tertiary resources and abulletin board for the exchange of ideas.

Education Network Australia (EdNA) aims tofacilitate the provision of cost effective education toall parts of the education community in Australia.EdNA is founded on cooperation and consultationbetween representatives of all sectors of the educationcommunity including Commonwealth, State andTerritory governments, non government schools, thevocational education and training sector, the highereducation sector and the adult and communityeducation sectors. The aim is to maximize the benefitsof information technology for all sectors in educationand to avoid overlap and duplication between thevarious sectors and systems.

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REGIONAL COOPERATION FORENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATIONAND TRAINING

Recognition is growing that manyenvironmental issues and challenges are common tomore than one country in the region, and thatcountries and communities can learn from each otherin their responses to similar situations and problems.In some cases, the transboundary nature ofenvironmental problems and their impact make it animperative for countries in the same geographicalvicinity to work together to address and cope withenvironmental trends and conditions.

Regional networking is one of the mostcost-effective ways of promoting active cooperationamong those engaged in environmental educationand training. The Asia Pacific Network for TertiaryLevel Environmental Training (NETTLAP)contributes to human resource development and thestrengthening of tertiary institutions in the Asian andPacific Region. Staffs of tertiary institutions are keytargets for environmental training for the multipliereffect they can generate; they often act as advisors togovernment and industry; and because of the highstanding university staff members enjoy in manycommunities as opinion leaders. The roles andobjectives of NETTLAP are outlined in Box 15.2.

Another example of regional network is theSouth and Southeast Asia Network for EnvironmentalEducation (SASEANEE). It was initiated in 1993,coordinated by the CEE in India and the Commissionon Education and Communication of IUCN.SASEANEE membership includes governmental andnon-governmental organizations, academicinstitutions, as well as agencies and individualsinvolved in or interested in networking, initiating orsupporting environmental education activities in theSouth and Southeast Asian countries. Activitiesinclude: a directory of persons and institutionsinvolved in environmental education; a newslettercalled SASEANEE Circular; and short training coursesin environmental education.

In 1995, the South Asia CooperativeEnvironment Programme (SACEP) initiated a projectto assess environment related training needs in itsmember countries, with a view to developing aRegional Plan of Action. Country studies werecarried out in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives,Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which werecoordinated by CEE, India. Based on the countrylevel assessments, SACEP and CEE prepared aRegional Plan of action that sought to help synergizeenvironmental capacity building within thesubregion. It found that courses were well developed

and that some institutions had also developedconsiderable expertise and experience in their areasof specialization and provide appropriate training.However, the assessments underlined the fact thatthe available training opportunities were inadequateto cater to the growing needs, and in some cases, thequality of training required improvement.

INFORMATION AND AWARENESS

A. Monitoring Assessment and ReportingEnvironmental monitoring by government

agencies and institutions in many countries hasfocused on certain environmental concerns, such asthe quality of air, water and other natural resources.Monitored data are transformed into information thatshow environmental trends and effectiveness of pastmitigation measure which are vital for environmentalmanagement. This information is also utilized in thestate of environment reports; for example, ofAustralia; New Zealand; Malaysia; India; Fiji; Japan;Hong Kong, China; Turkmenistan; Azerbaijan;Uzbekistan; and Palau. NGOs and community-basedorganizations also play a significant role in collectingand disseminating information to the community andto all spheres of government.

1. National levelAir pollution is a concern for which extensive

monitoring systems have been put in place in manycountries of the region. In the Republic of Korea, forexample an automatic air pollution monitoringnetwork measures seven atmospheric pollutantswhich includes TSP, SO2, NO2, CO, O3, etc. Othercountries in the region may not have such asophisticated system but nonetheless have establishedmonitoring systems to cover sites across the country.Indonesia now has 31 air quality monitoring stationsnationwide to help check increasing air pollutionarising from motor vehicles in large cities. People’sRepublic of China illustrates a wide array ofmonitoring stations and also implements aquantitative examination system for urbanenvironmental control. The central and provincialgovernments have already performed quantitativechecks in over 37 major cities and 330 smaller cities.

In the Russian Federation, special attention isgiven to the development and support of a systemfor monitoring the condition of the ozone layer aswell as a system for monitoring ultraviolet radiationover the whole country and adjoining territories.Information is processed and presented in the formof daily maps showing deviations in the volumes oftotal ozone content from norms established overmany years.

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Box 15.2 NETTLAP: Building Regional Capacity through Environmental Research,Training and Education

In 1993, UNEP’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) established an ongoing programme to enhance the region’scapacity to manage the environment in a sound and sustainable manner. This initiative, called the Network for EnvironmentalTraining at Tertiary Level in Asia and the Pacific (NETTLAP), has evolved into a major contribution in helping to achieve bothnational and regional goals of sustainable development. It has explicitly recognized that tertiary institutions such as universities,technical and training institutes and teacher training colleges, play a major role in building capacity for sustainable development.

Staff of these institutions were identified as “agents of change” for two reasons. Firstly, a large multiplier effect is associatedwith actions that strengthen tertiary institutions and enhance the abilities of staff to transfer, to their colleagues and students, state ofthe art understanding and international best practices. The improvements involve many people in a short period of time-graduatesare soon improving the environmental management policies and practices in industry, government and the community. Secondly,governments and industry keenly seek the advice and guidance of staff from universities and technical institutes. Industry inparticular recognizes the ability of such people to bring innovative solutions to current environmental problems and creativeapproaches to preventing the occurrence of new problems.

Initially NETTLAP focussed on strengthening key tertiary institutions in 35 developing countries in the region. The earlyefforts of NETTLAP did more to recognize the enormity of the need and, in relative terms, little to address it. But incrementallyNETTLAP made a difference throughout the region. The benefits of the multiplier effect have begun to be seen. This wasparticularly so in the case of the design, preparation and dissemination of environmental curricula and the supporting instructionalmethods, materials and tools for use in tertiary and other relevant institutions in the region. These efforts resulted in sets ofcurriculum guidelines and associated training methods, resource materials and tools cover such topics as environmental economics,hazardous waste management, toxic chemicals management and coastal zone management. These outputs are still widely sought,and extensively used in the region.

By the late 1990s, NETTLAP had matured in several ways. Significantly, it has shifted its target from institutional strengtheningand human resources development in the tertiary sector itself to assist developing countries to plan and implement their ownactivities to build the capacity to achieve effective environmental management, and sustainable development. Countries can take acomprehensive approach that targets other important “agents of change” – politicians, government officials, and leaders from theprivate sector and NGOs.

Therefore, in recent years NETTLAP has focussed on building national networks that can facilitate the linking of policy makers,development planners, environmental managers from industry and key staff from tertiary institutions. In addition to sharingexpertise, experiences and best practices, the networks are also designed to help identify current and emerging needs that can bestbe addressed through a symbiotic relationship between these key players. Through these national partnerships, NETTLAP is linkingresearch, training and education in order to improve the capacity to prevent or minimize adverse impacts on the environment. Thisinvolves identifying and implementing responses that are sustainable, assured of achieving the desired results and identified needs,supportive of related policies (e.g. appropriate economic and social development), innovative but consistent with traditional indigenouspractices, add value to other initiatives and encourage complementary activities.

NETTLAP has played a key role by facilitating nationally “owned and driven” environmental capacity building networks inthe Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand. The major achievements of the latter two networks for training and research in environmentalmanagement have resulted, in part, from significant funding from DANCED, an initiative of the Government of Denmark. Giventhe success of its current approach of “Regional Cooperation with National Implementation”, NETTLAP is in advanced discussionsto help develop similar networks in People’s Republic of China, Viet Nam, India and the Mekong countries.

Key players in NETTLAP’s strategy – “Regional Cooperation with National Implementation” – are such subregional organizationsas SACEP, ASEAN and SPREP. NETTLAP is working with these, and similar organizations, to ensure that its actions are supportiveof their strategies and action plans related to environmental research, education and training. NETTLAP has evolved as new needsare identified and past needs are addressed. But despite its efforts, and its significant successes, much more needs to be done.NETTLAP has shown that the most effective approach is one that builds synergies between key international, regional, subregionaland national players.

Source: NETTLAP office at UNEP/ROAP

In Australia, a number of strategies and plansprovide a focus for particular resource issues,including Agriculture Land Cover Change project andthe revised National Overview for the Decade ofLandcare Plan (the main strategic plan for theNational Landcare Programme The government,through its Commonwealth and State agencies,

funded a programme to monitor changes in Landcover from 1990-1995, through the use of Satellitedata. Information from the project provides asbaseline for future monitoring which is vital to landclearing and agriculture development that havemajor impacts on wide range of country’s naturalprocesses.

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Wastewater is also intensively monitored insome countries across the region. Databases inAustralia (Australian Waste Database) and NewZealand (Waste Analysis Protocol; WAP) are usedfor collating national baseline and updateinformation, so as to monitor waste managementservices and ensure national objectives are met. Thesedata will also eventually form the basis for developingnational waste reduction targets.

Environmental quality monitoring has alsobeen focused on natural resources, such as coastaland marine resources. In Thailand, the FisheriesDepartment of the Ministry of Agriculture monitorscoastal zones and estuaries for toxic chemicals, heavymetals and oil pollution. India has a programme onCoastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System thatis engaged in a systematic monitoring of marinepollution in the country and conducts studies relatingto waste assimilation capacity of coastal waters. TheRussian Federation monitors and evaluates theenvironmental impact of activities affecting coastaland marine regions such as in the Caspian Sea wherea system is being developed to forecast its fluctuatinglevel over various time spans to predict possiblefuture changes.

Forest resources and biodiversity are extensivelymonitored throughout the region. For example,National Biodiversity Surveys are carried outapproximately every five years in Japan. Indonesiaconducted a project with GEF support to establish aBiological Diversity Inventory and develop a UserAdvisory Group Information System. In Australia, aNational Forest Inventory and Wilderness Inventoryare carried out to produce a national State of theForests report every five years. The Republic of Koreahas a 10-year periodic forest inventory with site surveysto produce a geographic map that is computerizedinto digital databases. Monitoring for forest pestsand diseases has also been developed in the RussianFederation and the Republic of Korea for earlywarning systems related to pest and disease outbreak.

Other monitoring techniques include the useof Geographical Information Systems (GIS), whichare used to establish nationwide conservation andprotected areas (Australia); identification ofenvironmentally sensitive areas (Malaysia, Fiji); forestresource mapping (Indonesia, the Philippines,Myanmar, Solomon Islands); flood action planning(Bangladesh); studying ecosystem changes, riverpollution and marine environmental surveys(Republic of Korea); analysis of river change,water logging and salinity, desertification, andagro-ecological zonal maps for water research(Pakistan); and industrial pollution control (Thailand).The significance of disaster prevention and mitigation

has also prompted many countries to take initiativesin the areas of disaster forecasting, early warning,risk assessment and mapping of climate and waterrelated hazards.

2. Regional and Global MonitoringEnvironmental quality monitoring goes beyond

country activities and programmes whenenvironmental concerns take on transboundarycharacteristics. An example is the Mekong GIS project(of the Interim Committee for Coordination ofInvestigations of the Lower Mekong Basin), whichwas initiated to evolve a network of data centres inLao People’s Democratic Republic, Thailand and VietNam. Regional cooperation in Central Asia has alsobeen initiated on questions relating to radiation safety.

Remote Sensing and GIS are also being appliedas a tool for monitoring at regional level. The valueof remote sensing in monitoring transboundarypollution was demonstrated recently when ASOEN(ASEAN Officials for the Environment) used the datadeveloped from these for planning inter-countrycooperation regarding haze caused by forest fires inIndonesia.

3. Issues and Problems in Monitoringand AssessmentThe most often cited constraints in relation to

environmental quality monitoring in developingcountries relate to inadequacy of funds and the lackof manpower and/or training, which leads to lowcoverage and low frequency of monitoring,particularly in the rural areas. This is especially sowhen the monitoring cover a wide area, for example,in Mongolia there is a need to monitor about 20 000bored wells and a similar number of dug wells as itis believed that 70-80 per cent of these arecontaminated. However, present capacity only allowschemical analyses for 14 per cent of the bored wellsand none of the dug wells. Lack of training andtechnical capacity has also reduced the capacity ofdeveloping countries to actively participate in globalmonitoring efforts.

Environmental monitoring and assessment inthe developing countries of the region still requiresstrengthening in terms of standardization of,monitoring network system design; sampling andanalytical methodologies; quality control in datacollection and laboratory analysis; nationalprocedures for harmonizing data collection; andimproving the access to data of researchers andinterested citizens. There is also a need to establishsystems for collecting new benchmark data to assessthe sustainability of resources, as well to environmentwith health, population, and economics.

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B. Information DisseminationDissemination of environmental information is

extremely important in integrated environmentalmanagement, since it plays a vital role in sensitisingindividuals to environmental issues. In the past,dissemination has been done through campaigningusing mass media and scientific publications,however, advanced technology, especially the electricmedia, is now playing an increasing role. However,access to environmental information is not easy inmost countries in the Asian and Pacific region. Someregion-wide efforts such as the UNDP funded AsiaPacific 2000 initiation have concentrated onpromoting such efforts (Box 15.3).

1. National LevelIn some countries, there is no legal policy to

disseminate environmental information to the publicor private sector. Lack of effective coordination makesinformation exchange more difficult. For example,in the Russian Federation, though environmental

information distribution policy does exist by law,there is no legal administrative mechanism availableto put it into practice. As a result, the informationcannot be obtained easily, even among coordinatingagencies.

In Australia, environmental information caneasily be accessed from a diverse range of institutions.There are numerous projects being undertaken bygovernment agencies at the Federal and State leveland in research and teaching institutions, which areaimed at developing methods of integratingeconomic, social and environmental information.These include state of environment reporting, thedevelopment of indicators of sustainabledevelopment, methods for resource valuation andsystems of environmental and natural resourcesaccounting.

The Environmental Resources InformationNetwork (ERIN), located in Environment Australiaprovides environmental information for policydevelopment and decision-makers. ERIN databases

Box 15.3 Awareness Raising Campaigns

The UNDP-funded Asia Pacific 2000 initiative (AP2000) seeks to support and strengthen the role of civil society in meeting thechallenges of urban environment and poverty. Established in the early 1990s, it works closely with governments, NGOs, researchersand all other stakeholders in the region’s unfolding urban drama. Studying how AP2000’s partners are mobilizing themselves shedslight on the use of different campaign methods for environmental awareness, advocacy and activism.

Environmental Campaigns in urban areas of Asia and the Pacific have taken various forms. Some have been as simple asmaking and putting up posters, or conducting slide presentations and exhibits, for example as the Penang Organic Farm (PAF) doesto promote the concept of Eco-cities. Eco-cities are designed to revitalize nature in over-exploited areas, while bringing newprosperity to its inhabitants. The Asia Pacific 2000 initiative has involved PAF to become the core of an Asia-wide Eco-cities networkthat will create awareness of alternative ways of building cities and to create sensitivity toward the environment. There are manyother ways of carrying out campaigns. For example, in March 1995, AP2000’s partner Waste Wise in Bangalore organized a three-day‘Festival of Recycling’. This event brought together the community, local authorities and private enterprise to promote the concept ofreducing, reusing and recycling as a way of life. Now, the organization is spreading its advocacy work beyond Bangalore to theregion with Waste Wise Asia Pacific.

Some campaigns target specific audiences. Magic Eye, a Thai community development organization, for example, aimed its‘Do Not Litter’ campaign at school children. The programme, which made children aware of the need for proper waste disposal –for instance through separation and recycling – was a success. But Magic Eye’s ultimate target was the parents, who are in a betterposition to put into practice the waste management schemes advocated through the programme.

Sometimes campaigns involve protest and agitation against policies or practices that are felt to be harmful to the environment(see Chapter 14). Across the region, NGOs and other citizens’ groups regularly organize such campaigns which employ a variety ofmeans, ranging from letter writing, marches or rallies, to the more active forms such as satyagraha or sit-in protests that are oftenadopted in parts of South Asia. In India, sustained campaign efforts have also used the method of yatras or long marches by groupsof people – sometimes stretching across hundreds of kilometres – which attract news media interest, and expose thousands of peoplein communities along the way to the messages of the campaign.

Government agencies also use campaigns to rally public support for specific environmental issues. Singapore has a wellestablished practice of environmental campaigns like the Clean and Green Week, and it’s calls to Save Energy and Save Water. InJapan, October of each year is observed as the Recycling Promotion Month, during which all government ministries and agenciesconcerned with the environment conduct an extensive campaign to persuade the people to recycle resources.

Hopefully these and other campaigns in the cities of Asia and the Pacific will go a long way in improving the urban environment.

Sources: 1. Inter Press Service, Manila 19972. Ministry of the Environment, Singapore 1996

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store a vast array of information about theenvironment, ranging from endangered species todrought and water pollution. Information is drawnfrom many sources including maps, speciesdistributions, documents and satellite imagery andthe information is easily accessible through theinternet.

Similarly in Japan, public access to data on airand water pollution and natural environment isprovided to government agencies, laboratories andoutside users under pollution control laws.

The Government of India and the StateGovernments, through several of their organizationshave taken various steps to develop informationnetwork capabilities of both the public and privatesectors. The Environment Information System(ENVIS) has the joint objectives of building arepository and dissemination centre forenvironmental science and engineering, andproviding national environmental informationservices to originators, processors, and disseminatorsof environmental information.

2. International LevelInternationally, INFOTERRA of UNEP is an

important source of information. Additionally, UnitedNations system-wide Earthwatch programmeinitiated in 1994 by UNEP has emphasizedenvironmental education. It aims at coordinating,harmonising and integrating observation, assessmentand reporting activities across the United Nationssystem in order to provide environmental andsocio-economic information to interested parties.Some countries also promote dissemination ofenvironmental information for users around theworld. The National Resource Information Centre(NRIC) of Australia develops advanced computingsystems designed to service policy and communityneeds for information, for example, on sustainabledevelopment. Its information resources consist ofmore than 50 national and 100 regional spatiallymaintained datasets, and FINDAR, a softwarepackage for interrogating metadata on more than6 500 databases that it maintains as a directory linkedto all other major international directories.

In March 1996, the NIES, Japan, began toprovide environmental information from its researchactivities to the world via the Internet. At thesame time, the Centre established a computercommunication system for the general public calledthe “Environmental Information & CommunicationNetwork (EICnet)” in order to promote nationalactivities for conservation of the environment,including “EI-Guide” a survey of environmentalinformation including explanations of laws, treaties,and environment-related terms.

3. Issues and Constraints in InformationDisseminationEffective communication plays an important

bridging role between information and target groups.The first stage of communication, however, which islistening to what people know, think, believe anddo, has often been weak. In the formal educationsector, timely access to credible information is one ofthe major constraints for environmental education inthe region. Furthermore, in some countries, althoughdata and information are often collected by differentagencies, a lack of effective coordination andcommunication among related agencies makeinformation sharing ineffective. NGOs have beeneffectively involved in dissemination ofenvironmental information to promote environmentalawareness, although there is still a need for improvedpromotion at the regional level.

ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION

Environmental communication has nowemerged as strong complementary practice toenvironmental education. A broad definition ofenvironmental communication would be, “thesharing of information, insights and opinions onenvironmental issues, trends, conditions and solutionsusing any means of communications, ranging frominter-personal methods to means of masscommunication using the modern as well astraditional media”. In this sense, environmentaleducators constantly engage in environmentalcommunication. However, an important distinctionis that, while all environmental educators arecommunicators, not all environmental communicatorsare necessarily educators. Across the Asian andPacific Region, individuals and institutions engagein a very wide range of environmental communicationactivities with varying degrees of sophistication,outreach and impact.

A. Communication TrendsIn the mid to late 1990s, the main focus in

environmental communication was to inspire positivebehaviour, on the part of individuals, communities,corporate and industrial bodies and others, to helpconserve the environment and achieve sustainabledevelopment.

A key issue for many countries in the region isto integrate environment into development policy,and to use communication and education in anintegrated way as an instrument of policy. There is,however, a tendency to focus on formal schooleducation target groups, both by governments andNGOs, rather than addressing other groups who can

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make a difference in a policy issue, or in an immediatepractical sense (IUCN 1998).

One of the major channels through whichenvironmental communication is practised is the massmedia, which includes both print and electronicsections. The communication media in Asia and thePacific underwent rapid change during the 1990s,with liberalization of media policies allowing privatesector involvement, spread of global media networksowned by trans-national companies and theproliferation of new communication technologieswhich have removed the barrier of large investmentsrequired to enter the media field.

Trans-national television is the most prominentexample of the changes taking place in the region’scommunications scenes. More than 386 millionhouseholds in the region (more than 55 per cent) arenow equipped with television sets. Estimates indicatethat by the year 2005, more than 447 millionhouseholds will have television sets (UNESCO1997b). The last few years has also seen the rapidexpansion in the use of the Internet, with mostcountries in the region already connected to the globalinformation superhighway. Cellular phones, faxes,email, electronic networks and cable are alsoexpanding countries’ outreach, often atunprecedented growth rates.

The Asian and Pacific Region is experiencing atrend where the public service component ontelevision is declining while the number of broadcasthours and channels continues to increase. Themedium’s potential for non-formal education and forraising public awareness remains largely untapped.While advertisers and sponsors compete to supportentertainment, news or sports programmes, the moreeducational programmes, documentaries, investigativecurrent affairs programmes or in-depth interviews,are having to contend with budget cuts, intensecompetition for prime-time slots, and an overalldecline in the public service spirit in broadcasting(TVE 1999). Media’s role in environmentalcommunication remains effective only to the extentthat the environmental experts, researchers andactivists engage and use the media to influence andshape the accuracy, balance and scope ofenvironmental coverage.

In response, throughout the region,governments and NGOs are adopting strategies tomobilize communications and cooperate with themedia, and in some cases, to strengthen the media’scapacity to cover environmental issues moreeffectively (Box 15.4). In 1996, Malaysia’s Department

of Environment (DOE) launched two majorprogrammes with the cooperation of the electronicmedia. One was a TV serial called ‘Bicara Alam’ thatdiscussed environmental issues of current interest,the other was a radio environmental awareness quiz.

B. Print MediaEnvironmental reporting is now well-established

within the region’s print media, newspapers andmagazines. Investigative journalism onenvironmental issues has resulted in exposingenvironmentally damaging plans, polices or practices.Newspaper exposures and subsequent publicpressure have forced governments, local authorities,industries and others to change their plans, to tightenlaws and regulations, and to abandon certaindevelopment projects whose environmental andsocial costs outweighed any benefits.

This is illustrated by Thailand’s two leadingEnglish language newspapers, the Bangkok Post andThe Nation, both of which have been honoured byUNEP with its Global 500 awards for excellence inenvironmental coverage and for their commitmentto the environmental cause. The Nation newspaperhas a recognized tradition of coveringgroundbreaking environmental stories, and theproduction of a weekly environmental page, EarthFocus. In Malaysia, a leading newspaper group, theNew Straits Times, has supported and managed anational environmental education programme forstudents since 1992, which aims to enhance theawareness of the environment, culture and socialvalues, whilst encouraging problem solving,motivation and participation in environmentalprogrammes.

Producing special publications for children isanother important strategy. Many conservationorganizations produce material meant for childrenand young adults. The Centre for Science andEnvironment (CSE) in India, for instance, haspublished the science and environment fortnightlyDown to Earth since 1992 and launched a children’ssupplement in 1998, called Gobar Times. It aims tostimulate young minds to question prevailingdevelopment patterns, lifestyles and governancesystems. The supplement carries news and views onthe environment, science and technology, stories fromvarious traditions including environmentalmovements and inventions, and highlights of socialimplications of the issues. It uses comic strips,cartoons, quizzes, essay competitions and interactivepages to engage children’s minds.

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Box 15.4 New Environmentalism in People’s Republic of China

In the 1990s, the environmental movement in People’s Republic of China gained considerable momentum at all levels: in themedia, among academics and professionals, and at different levels of government. At the official level, the National EnvironmentalProtection Administration (NEPA) has a Centre for Environmental Education and Communication (CEEC) based at theSino-Japanese Friendship Centre for Environmental Protection in Beijing, a modern facility opened in 1996. The CEEC’s mainfunctions include organising and undertaking national communications activities on environmental protection; managing a publicinquiry system for information of environmental communications and education; compiling teaching materials on environmentalprotection; producing TV programmes on environmental issues; conducting training; and providing professional advice to locallevel CEECs.

Under CEEC’s leadership, a vast network of environmental communicators has been mobilized across People’s Republic ofChina, to provide information, clarifications and interpretations on a wide range of environmental issues and concerns. Meanwhile,a growing number of citizens’ groups and media professionals are also actively participating in strengthening environmentalawareness and advocacy work. A pioneering role is played by Friends of Nature, a citizens’ group formed in 1993 whose membershipcomprises several hundred academics and journalists concerned about the environment. In 1996, Friends of Nature initiated acampaign that prompted the government to ban logging in Deqing country in the south-western province of Yunnan, home to theendangered golden monkey (due to excessive deforestation). Similar campaigns have been launched on saving the natural habitatsof other endangered species, and to stop the caging of wild birds. Campaigns are carried out using persuasion as well as pressurizingtactics (media exposure) rather than using directly confrontational approaches.

A concerned and sympathetic media has become one of the biggest forces for change in People’s Republic of China. For manyyears, Peple’s Republic of China has had substantial coverage of environmental issues in its media: by the early 1990s, the country’senvironmental protection institutions at various levels had founded 16 specialized newspapers and 87 special magazines onenvironment, and there were eight newspapers and magazines with a national readership devoted solely to this subject. A majortrend observed in the mid 1990s was the emergence of television as a powerful medium for raising awareness and advocating policyreforms on environment.

The Global Village Environmental Culture Institute of Beijing (GECIB) has been at the forefront in using television forenvironmental communication. In 1996, it created two successful television series. The first series, called Green Civilization andPeople’s Republic of China, is aired on China Educational Television (CETV). It aims to cultivate the people’s environmental consciousnessthrough spreading basic knowledge on sustainable development. Encouraged by the response to this series, GECIB created a secondseries of weekly programmes called Time for Environment, which runs on China Central Television (CCTV), the country’s nationaltelevision network. This programme deals mainly with the latest international and domestic environmental events.

GECIB’s work symbolizes the commitment of the new environmental movement in People’s Republic of China. It is run byprofessionally skilled volunteers; the actual costs are covered by donations and grants. Encouraged by GECIB’s successful televisionventures, several television stations have launched their own programmes looking at different aspects of environment and development.While some deal with the traditional aspects of natural history, other programmes adopt a more investigative approach, probing andexposing environmental degradation, violation of existing laws and regulations, and instances of corruption and negligence leadingto environmental disasters.

Expansion of operations to engage in book publishing and multi-media ventures that disseminate environmental informationin a variety of ways is also on the agenda. Other bodies are already exploiting the Internet for this purpose: for example, the ChinaGreen Students Forum, a network of 20 university-based environmental groups, are linked through the Internet. As People’sRepublic of China expands its presence in the Internet, more groups and organizations are poised to take advantage of the newmedium.

Sources: IUCN-CEC 1998; Time magazine 1 March 1999; and Sino-Japanese Friendship Centre 1997

C. Broadcast MediaThe broadcast media, radio and television, in

all their variations, have established themselves asthe most pervasive and powerful forms of massmedia in Asia and the Pacific today. They representa major channel through which information onenvironment can be conveyed to the people(Box 15.5). Recognising the need for programmes inthe regional language and context, major internationalmedia groups have associated with regional andnational companies.

A wide range of activist groups and mediaorganizations also produce television and radioprogrammes on environmental issues, using themedia as a means to raise awareness. For instance,since 1996, the Nepal Forum of EnvironmentalJournalists (NEFEJ) has been producing a weeklyradio programme for Radio Nepal on communityforestry. Called “Samudayik Ban”, it is produced onbehalf of the Federation of Community Forest Usersin Nepal, and is designed to support communityforest user groups through sharing experiences on

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Box 15.5 Moving Pictures to Save the Environment

As the audio visual media become the dominant source of information and entertainment in the Asian and Pacific Region,more environmental activists and organizations are moving to take advantage of these powerful media for environmental educationand awareness. Using low cost video production equipment spawned by the digital revolution, and responding to the growingdemand for programming in most countries, NGOs and small media organizations are carving out their own niche in the region’smedia landscape. While many use video as a medium to raise public awareness and understanding of environmental issues, someare using it to document instances of environmental crimes and degradation; to lobby for specific policy reforms; or to raise fundsfor specific campaigns.

Recognizing that their effectiveness depends on having access to skills, information and programming, a number of theregion’s organizations have come together to form the Asia and Pacific Video Resource Centre (VRC) Network. A ‘VRC’ is anexisting environmental or media organization that commits itself to using television and video for environmental communication.By mid 1999, 18 such VRCs were active in 15 countries in the region, engaged in a range of activities such as: producing new videoprogrammes; versioning or adapting foreign programmes into local languages; and distributing the programmes using means suchas public screenings, seminars, and film festivals. The network is affiliated with the Television Trust for the Environment (TVE)which provides them with high quality programmes and technical assistance. VRCs also receive support from UNEP and otheragencies.

Members of the VRC network have found innovative means of using the audio visual media to promote environmentalawareness. For example:

� WWF Pakistan has made arrangements to screen environmental videos at departure lounges of key international airports in thecountry;

� Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists is producing its own weekly magazine programme for local television whereenvironmental issues are regularly covered;

� Environmental Broadcast Circle in the Philippines has integrated video film viewing into the course work at some universities;

� Women’s Media Centre in Cambodia produces short duration television ‘spots’ that convey concise messages on topics such aswomen and the environment;

� Centre for Environment Education in India uses videos in awareness programmes organized for children.

Several members of the network regularly organize environmental film festivals. Earth Vision has emerged as a leadingenvironmental film festival in the Asian and Pacific Region. Conducted every year since 1992 by the Earth Vision Organization inJapan, it is open to film makers in the region, and offers prestigious awards and cash prizes. Film South Asia is another documentaryfestival that was started in 1997 by the Kathmandu-based Himal magazine. According to the organizers, the festival is an attempt tocounter the domination of satellite television.

Sometimes, individual television programmes can capture the attention of viewers across boundaries and catalyze change. In1995, TVE Japan produced a 30-minute documentary titled Japan’s Lessons on the Economy and the Environment: Our PollutionExperience. It traced Japan’s industrial pollution problems and effects on public health and the environment, and documented howthe Japanese industry was forced to adopt pollution control measures. Because of its clear lessons for the currently industrializingcountries in the region, this programme has been versioned into several main Asian languages – such as Mandarin, Hindi, Urdu,Tagalog and Bengali – by members of the VRC network to promote the key message in the film.

Similarly, a UNEP/TVE video called Saving the Ozone Layer: Every Action Counts, produced in 1995, has been versioned intoseveral key Asian languages and is used widely for education and awareness purposes. This forms part of the audio-visual materialavailable to organizations marking the World Ozone Day on September 16 each year.

Sources: TVE International and TVE Japan; UNEP-ROAP

policies and practices. Similar community radiobroadcasts are also taking place from a number ofradio stations in the region (Box 15.6).

Other private sector organizations are alsoengaged in producing environmental material forbroadcast. For example, a private televisionproduction company named Miditech, based inNew Delhi, India, has been producing a weeklytelevision series called Living on the Edge whichcombines news and views on environment with

clever visuals and interactive segments, making theprogramme both educational and entertaining.

D. Major Constraints and ResponsesEven though the quantity of environmental

coverage in the region’s media has continued toincrease since the mid-1990s, several constraints anddrawbacks remain.

A major difficulty faced by journalists andproducers covering the environment is access to

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Box 15.6 Community Radio: A Growing Cacophony of Local Voices

Community radio stations are designed to encourage participation by a large representative sample of the various socio-economic levels, organizations and minority groups within a community. The stations facilitate the free flow of information andopinions, encouraging freedom of speech and enhancing dialogue.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of local or community radio stations, usually characterized by theirlow transmission power and restricted audience. This could be a university campus, a specific district in a large city, or smallstations in rural areas servicing distinct communities. Since the late 1970s, when the technology and expertise for starting communityradio stations became widely available, a whole range of community radio experiments has taken place, and today community radioinitiatives are found in all regions of the world. Some have been used effectively to promote environmental awareness and togenerate community level discussion and debate on sustainable development issues.

Community radio is found in many countries of the Asian and Pacific Region. In the Philippines, parallel to the conventionalradio stations (of which there are more than 500), there are some 35 local radio stations headed by community groups, denominationalassociations and educational organizations. Among the best known is the Network of Tambule Community Radio, comprising eightsmall community stations located in isolated regions. Set up and managed by local volunteers, the network receives support fromUNESCO and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). With basic technical training in radio broadcasting,villagers prepare news bulletins as well as programmes focusing on local issues. Open debates on these stations maintain pressureon the local authorities to find viable solutions to environmental, social and other community problems.

In Thailand, the community radio station in Chiang Mai has been broadcasting programmes on substitution crops as part of agovernment programme to reduce the poppy crop. This Hill Tribes Radio also seeks to improve the socio-economic conditions of themountain tribal people living in the northern region of Thailand. In Australia, the ‘Public Radio’ community network was givenlegal status in 1974, and now has more than 130 community radio stations.

In Sri Lanka, Mahaweli Community Radio (MCR) was started in 1980 to support the new settlers in the Mahaweli Riverdiversion programme, one of the largest development projects in Asia at the time. Radio has been used to motivate people in theMahaweli settlements to take on the responsibility of bringing about change in themselves and in their communities. MCR hasadopted many concepts of community-based radio programming and production, and has demonstrated that the medium ofcommunity radio can influence the thinking and attitudes of rural populations. MCR programmers have incorporated concepts ofsustainability and conservation into their programmes over the years.

In 1997, Radio Sagarmatha in Nepal became the first privately owned and managed community radio service in South Asia.The station is run on a non-profit basis by the Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ) in collaboration with Himal SouthAsia magazine, Nepal Press Institute and the Worldview International Foundation. Initially starting with two hours of transmissionsevery day to the Kathmandu valley, the new station quickly increased its number of broadcast hours as well as its audience share.The core programming covers social, cultural, environment and developmental issues, while the rest of the air time is used tobroadcast Nepalese classical music and folk songs, etc.

The growing developments in community radio throughout Asia and the Pacific are facilitating the dissemination of culturaland community specific information and awareness raising with respect to local environmental concerns.

Sources: 1. UNESCO 19972. Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NEFEJ) 1998

reliable sources of information and having thetechnical information interpreted by experts.Although identified some time ago, the response tothis constraint has been slow. The restriction of accessto information by the public and media, still prevailsin some countries and inhibits open coverage,discussion and debate of issues that are of publicinterest. In other cases where information is available,journalists lack credible means of interpretingtechnical issues and explaining them in layman’sterms. In some countries, such as the Philippines,the scientific community has set up media referralservices which offer free advice and information tojournalists working on a science or environmentrelated story, directing them to relevant experts andinstitutions.

In the few instances where such collaborationhas been established between the environmentalcommunity and the media, impressive results havebeen recorded. In Pakistan, for example, the IUCNhas involved the media as a key target group andstakeholder in the implementation of the NationalConservation Strategy, resulting in a strengthenedcapacity of the media to cover the complex issues ofsustainable development.

However, in many countries, environmentalactivists and government agencies handling thesubject of environment have not developed fruitfulmedia relations and use the media only to generatepublicity for events and individual actions. Whilesuch publicity campaigns are useful, the greaterinterests of communities and sustainable

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development are better served by permittinginvestigative, balanced and accurate reporting.

Environmental journalism encounters otherproblems that are not easily overcome. For example,bottlenecks sometimes exist, where editors andprogramme managers may not appreciate, and thuspay limited attention to, environmental news. Thesebottlenecks remain partly because the sensitizationthat has occurred among reporters and producershas not been extended sufficiently well to cover themedia gatekeepers. Another limiting factor islegitimacy of environmental issues and where suchlegitimacy is derived from. For instance, sometimesmajor environmental stories are under-reported inthe country of origin until the foreign media picks itup and gives international coverage. In other cases,owing to prevailing restrictions on media freedomor due to problems of accessing reliable information,local journalists are unable to cover certainenvironmental stories. Foreign correspondents,operating at a different level are usually not asrestricted by domestic information policies, and arebetter positioned to cover such stories. However,coverage by global news networks or internationalfeatures services are tailor-made for a global audience,and as a result only highlights of a complex situationmay be covered.

The anomalies of global media are such thatsometimes the international media organizationsenjoy a disproportionately high degree of influence.A case in point is the mass-scale arsenic poisoning inBangladesh and West Bengal in India due to naturallyoccurring arsenic levels in the groundwater. Somefifteen million people in Bangladesh are forced touse the groundwater contaminated by arsenic, and ithas become one of the largest cases of poisoning inhistory. This major environmental story has beenreported and covered in the Bangladeshi media forseveral years since the mid 1990s. But worldwideattention increased only after the influential globalmedia started reporting on it. The BBC and the NewYork Times, between them, covered the story andraised the issue to a new level of recognition amongdonors, the development community and the publicthan had been achieved by the previous mediacoverage in Bangladesh and in the region.

E. The Internet and World Wide WebRecent years have seen the extremely rapid

growth and development of the Internet as aninformation provider. According to the InternationalData Corporation, the number of Internet Webusers in the Asian and Pacific Region will rise from6.5 million in March 1998 to 29.3 million by the year2001 (Panos 1998). However, large disparitiesin access and use of the Internet exist across the

region and in individual nations. Major constraintsremain that hinder the rapid expansion in Internetaccess in developing countries such as: poortelecommunications (lack of working phone lines);an inability to afford computers; and the higher costof providing Internet services. However it ispredicted that the Internet will move from a minorityto a mass medium, with wide accessibility in a shortperiod of time.

The earliest users and disseminators of Internetuse and technology were academic and researchorganizations, belonging to the Association ofProgressive Communications (APC). These haveactively supported or established networks in regionsaround the world for several years, and oftenprovided countries with their only link to the Internetuntil commercial Internet Service Providers (ISPs)became operational. Partly because of theseinitiatives, analysts say the Internet may have agreater social impact in developing countries thananywhere else, as the academic organizations aresome of the best-informed and are often campaigningfor greater democracy, social equality and protectionof the environment (Panos 1998).

During the past few years, an increasingnumber of environmental organizations in the regionhave recognized the potential of the Internet andstarted using it for exchanging information; foradvocacy and activism; for public awareness andeducation; as well as for publicity and promotionalpurposes. Although the number of websites with astrong environmental content originating from theregion is still numerically low, the quality and scopeof some of the currently available sites are impressive.

F. Traditional MediaFor many years, environmental communicators

have recognized the value and power of usingfolklore and traditional media, such as, dance, songs,drama, puppetry and miming, to take environmentand development messages to the public. Historically,traditional or folk media have often played a role inthe communication and promotion of new ideas,apart from its traditional role of preserving andteaching established values. Today, in spite ofadvances in the modern forms of mass media, manypeople still relate more readily and easily totraditional media, which are closer to their localcultures, and are often more interactive andparticipatory than the regular forms of mass media.

Various forms of traditional media are beingused or adapted to convey environmental messagesto children, communities and specific target groupsin different countries of the Asian and Pacific Region.For example, the wayang kulit or puppet’s shadowplay is one popular folk art form among Javanese

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communities in Indonesia. These plays tell storiescontaining important values relevant and useful topeople’s lives, both physically and spiritually. Theoriginal wayan stories are rich in ethical messagesregarding the close relationship between people andnature, appreciation of other living beings, warningson probable natural hazards due to human actions,etc. In recent years, wayan plays have been used tocommunicate messages supporting Indonesia’snational family planning programme, reaching vastaudiences (CEE 1994).

ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATIONBEYOND MEDIA

Environmental communication and awarenessrising is also taking place through citizen volunteers,through the efforts of the corporate sector, andthrough law and faith-based approaches. Each ofthese approaches has wide ranging applicationsacross the region.

A. Citizen VolunteersMobilising volunteer action is a time-tested

tradition in environmental management and activism.Volunteers may be drawn from different sections ofsociety; some will bring in specialized skills andknowledge; others will provide a donation of labourand time.

For example, in 1987 the RegionalEnvironmental Management Offices in the Republicof Korea launched the Environmental WatchdogSystem to raise public awareness of the need forenvironmental conservation and to encourage citizensto monitor environmental pollution. The system hascontributed greatly to increasing public awarenessof environmental issues through public relations,monitoring, reporting, and by accommodating publicviews and opinions. While the vast number of peopleinvolved was a positive development, it also posedmanagement difficulties. To address this concern,the Ministry of Environment set up the HonoraryGuard System for the Natural Environment as awatchdog in accordance with the NaturalEnvironmental Preservation Act. In 1995, there weremore than 11 000 honorary environmental watchdogs,representing every walk of life in society (MOE,Republic of Korea 1995).

B. Working with the Corporate SectorToday, environmental communication

initiatives often work closely with the corporatesector. Recognising that business, commerce andindustry are key players in achieving sustainabledevelopment and equitable growth, environmentaleducators have started to form partnerships with

socially and environmentally responsible corporations(see Chapter 13).

Increasingly, the corporate sector is initiatingenvironmental awareness, communications andeducation activities on its own, as part of theircommunity outreach or service programmes. In somecases, large corporations underwrite the cost ofenvironmental communications activities initiated byinter-governmental organizations. A prominentexample is how the Canon Corporation of Japan hasconsistently supported the United NationsEnvironment Programme (UNEP) to organize aworldwide photographic competition entitled “Focuson Your World” in 1992, 1995-96 and again in 1999.

The Environmental Conservation Committeeof Sony has been actively involved in environmentalwork for many years, monitoring regional committeesset up in North America, Europe and Asia. Thesecommittees identify environmental problems intheir regions, and devise responses that can beimplemented easily and efficiently. In October 1998,Sony Group in Singapore, in association with theTertiary Institutions Council for the Environment(TICE) and the Ministry of Environment, establishedthe Sony Environmental Conservation Prize to stressthe importance of environmental issues. Open touniversity and polytechnic students, the competitionsolicits innovative ideas for environmentalconservation. Other Sony companies across theregion are working with environmental initiatives andactivities, such as protecting mountains and rivers inthe Republic of Korea, and assisting with theprovision of forestry education at Muhak Mountainin the Masan region (Sony 1999).

In a growing number of countries, businessand industry are coming together to form alliancesor common fronts for taking corporate environmentalresponsibility to greater professional levels (seeChapter 13). Such business councils for sustainabledevelopment have already been formed in severalcountries, such as Japan, the Philippines andSri Lanka, and the chambers of commerce in thesecountries are actively involved in enabling companiesto become more environmentally responsiblecorporate citizens.

C. Faith and Law based ApproachesPublic interest environmental litigation is

increasingly popular in the region. In this, a groupof lawyers or an NGO would initiate legal action forand on behalf of a local community directly affectedby a specific instance of environmental degradation.The strengthening of environmental legislation inmost countries during the 1990s (see Chapter 11),and the increased awareness on environmental rights,has fuelled this process. Beyond mere litigation, most

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environmental law groups also engage in raisingawareness on the legal provisions and rights relatedto the environment.

The Bangladesh Environmental LawAssociation (BELA) has been at the forefront in usingthe law as an instrument of environmental educationand awareness raising. It works with both the victimsof environmental degradation, helping them to asserttheir rights, and also with law enforcement andjudicial officers, assisting them in their officialfunctions. In Sri Lanka, the EnvironmentalFoundation and the Mihikatha Institute are bothengaged in similar tasks of advocacy and education.Both organizations operate environmental legal aidclinics which not only offer free legal advice to thoseaffected by environmental problems, but also engagein awareness raising related to legal provisionsand rights. The Mihikatha Institute carried out acountry-wide training programme that exposed over2,000 practising lawyers on the aspects ofenvironmental law, mediation and rights (Mihikatha1997).

Environmental education and the promotionof environmentally friendly life-styles can also becarried out through faith groups (see Chapter 14).In the mid 1980s, the WWF brought seniorrepresentatives of the world’s major religious faithstogether in Italy to discuss each faith’s teachings andprinciples on man and the environment. Havingfound a considerable amount of common groundamong all religions on this subject, it was adopted asa strategy to enlist the support of religious leadersand groups to promote environmental awareness and,in particular, environmentally friendly lifestyles. Inthe Asian and Pacific Region, a number of initiativeshave also been started with support from theUK-based Alliance of Religions and Conservation.

Some countries are actively supporting thedevelopment of sustainable lifestyles throughreligious teachings. For example, Bhutan is activelypromoting the Buddhist way of life to ensure that itscitizens are sensitive to the conservation of

environment and natural resources. The RoyalGovernment of Bhutan made a national commitmentin 1995 to uphold its obligations to the futuregenerations by charting a path of development calledthe Middle Path. This development upholds bothenvironmental and cultural preservation as anintegral part of the development process. To ensurethat the modern development pressures will not leadto negative impacts on the environment, the Bhutangovernment is invoking Buddhist teachings toimpress upon the people the value of environmentalconservation and sustainable lifestyles (RoyalGovernment of Bhutan 1999).

CONCLUSION

As the Asian and Pacific Region enters the newmillennium, it is clear that a new surge of interest,enthusiasm and activity is underway on many frontsto place environmental education, training andcommunication higher on the public agenda incountries of the region.

Although a considerable amount of work hasbeen done and achievements made in the 1990s, manychallenges remain. As many countries of the regionstruggle to overcome the social, economic and culturalbarriers placed on them by poverty and under-development, and at the same time face up to thenew challenges of economic globalization, the priorityassigned to environmental issues and conservationis at risk of being overlooked or traded off for moreimmediate benefits, and for survival needs. Theenvironmental educators and communicators of theregion need, therefore, to be vigilant and active toensure that governments, industry and other keyplayers in the sustainable development arena remainmindful of their international and nationalcommitments to environmental conservation, inaddition to ensuring that sufficient investments ofresources, time and attention are made to consolidatethe achievements of the 1990s.