Environmental Education and the Conservation of Marine Environments: the case of the Coral Vivo Project, Brazil

Abstract

The Coral Vivo Project works in the conservation of marine environments, such as coral reefs, on the Discovery Coast, Bahia, Brazil. It comprises research, education, awareness and public policy actions. In the field of Environmental Education, it operates under the critical, transformative and emancipatory aspects, with three lines of action integrated with the other aspects of the Project: training and continuing education, awareness and mobilization, research, and design of teaching materials. The actions follow theoretical references such as transversality, interdisciplinarity, socio-environmental sustainability, participation and social control, systemic approach, respect for cultural diversity, linking different dimensions of knowledge and transparency. It establishes partnerships with different social actors, attributing to itself the pedagogical conduct and production of didactic materials. To raise awareness of different social groups, the Project has visiting spaces with contents that mobilize for the need for conservation under the aspects of socio-environmental, socio-cultural and socio-economic sustainability. It combines awareness, production and distribution of the Jornal Coral Vivo Notícias and the videos “Vida nos Recifes” and “O Homem e os Reefs”. It assesses that its educational actions, based on the understanding that the environmental dimension goes beyond biological perspectives when reaching socio-environmental relations and problematizing the vulnerability of biodiversity, complement conservation efforts.