Environmental education in the Brazilian Amazon: formation of environmental disseminators around conservation units

Abstract

Environmental education has transformative potential in sensitizing communities with environmental conservation objectives, especially in legally protected areas, such as protected areas. Therefore, the objective of this research was to develop a project to train environmental disseminators around the Jaru Biological Reserve, through a self - training course in rural school communities. The Jaru Rebio, UC of Integral Protection, was the scene of several conflicts, disposed in an area of ​​relevant biodiversity and endemism in the Brazilian Western Amazon. Thus, three rural schools were selected - inserted in a range of 10-12 km from the boundary of the UC -, with previous environmental diagnosis, workshops, meetings and lectures with various themes about the environment. The visits were monthly, with debated themes related to the local environmental problems listed. As a result, the project carried out two technical visits to the CU, one for the teachers and another for the students involved; the schools, on their initiative, held environmental science fairs; the topics discussed were inserted interdisciplinarmente in the school subjects and, as primacy, it was verified the affection creation between the teachers / students involved and the reserve, narrowing ties that previously was only geographic. It is concluded that the project was successful, forming environmental disseminators both through the teachers, as a student; it is worth mentioning that the feasibility of the project was the result of the cooperation of different agents involved (university, environmental agencies, councils and political managers).