Environmental and sustainability education in the Caribbean: Crucial issues, critical imperatives

Abstract

The development, quality and impact of environmental and sustainability education (ESE) in the Caribbean have received increased attention from a growing body of education researchers over the past few decades. This is not surprising given that the region has been grappling with various environmental, social, and economic sustainability issues, and education remains widely regarded as a key mode of response by a range of stakeholders, networks and commentators. Drawing on local to wider perspectives and initiatives, formal and non-formal ESE activities have been undertaken, to enhance knowledge and awareness, develop values, hone skills, and promote behaviours consistent with sustainable development. Whilst this increased engagement is significant and heartening, I argue that there is still scope for a renewal of focus in ESE in the Caribbean, honing in on four main areas: climate change education, the environment and violence nexus, teacher education, and universities as models of and for sustainability. These areas are consistent with regional sustainability imperatives and the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as ripe for deeper research-practice interlinkages. An overview of existing fields of educational inquiry in the Caribbean is offered, along with the four foci for further and future research, with the hope that new, emerging and established academics (as well as practitioners) work productively together to engage these crucial issues and critical imperatives for ESE.

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Keywords:

• Environmental and sustainability education
• climate change
• environment and violence
• teacher education
• Caribbean

Introduction

I am a Caribbean citizen and scholar, and fairly new member of this journal’s Editorial Board. In focusing this Editorial on my region, my intention is deliberate: I use it to issue a call to both established and emerging scholars, to engage further with various facets surrounding the researching of environmental and sustainability education (ESE) within the region.

The Caribbean nestles within the Americas, and consists primarily of island states (Benjamin 2010), with three main island groupings - the Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles, and the islands of the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos archipelagos (Potter et al. 2004). The region is said to have the largest number of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) globally (Rhiney 2015). The region also includes the mainland nations of Belize, Guyana, and Suriname, which have larger land masses (Rhiney 2015). It is home to a complex interplay of environmental, social, and economic factors which challenge environmental protection, alongside all the other dimensions of sustainability. With respect to their natural environments, peoples of the Caribbean–indigenous and diasporic peoples –face many challenges: examples include biodiversity loss, deforestation, water degradation, pollution of land, water, and air resources, waste management issues and, of course, the threats and impacts associated with global climate change (Heileman 2004). In addition to these environmental issues, there are many distinct, overlapping and intersecting social and economic issues with which Caribbean nations contend; these include, but are not limited to what some argue as most pressing for these societies: crime and violence, HIV/AIDS, and poverty (ECLAC, 2015; UNDP, 2012).

Given their commitment to attending to and addressing these issues, Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) are critical to the region. They sit alongside other related education paradigms, such as peace education and global citizenship education, as just two of many strategies attempting to transform the living conditions and lifeworlds of Caribbean citizens. Needless to say, in keeping with international discourse and agendas, both EE and ESD are critical with respect to developing and enhancing the knowledge, values and attitudes, skills, and action competencies that support these and related education models, particularly within the contemporary context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is on the understanding that these can, and will, ultimately, engender the individual and societal shifts necessary to address issues such as those identified above.

As a prerequisite to both EE and ESD though, basic research is needed that responds to important areas of inquiry (e.g. Glasgow, 1989; Arias-La Forgia 1994; Bedasse 2002), and more sophisticated forms to inform and ground EE and ESD in relevant practice informed by reflexive scholarship (see Howell 1994; Hiebert 2013; Down and Down 2018). Academics in the region have been increasingly engaged in various facets of EE and ESD from the 1980s onwards. For example, university-based scholars, researchers and doctoral students have explored diverse areas such as the provision for EE in Caribbean national environmental action plans (Bynoe and Hale 1997); coral reef education through the Bucco Reef Trust in primary schools in Tobago (Armstrong 2005); the formation of a regional network on ESD (Down and Nurse 2007); conceptualisations of nature and the environment in Jamaican primary school curricula (Ferguson 2008a); reviews of the Sandwatch programme (UNESCO 2010) in Caribbean countries (Cambers et al. 2008a); community-oriented learning (Down 2010); infusion of EE/ESD into various subject-areas in education in Jamaica (Cambers et al. 2008b; Lee 2008); biodiversity and ESD in teacher education programmes in Jamaica (Collins-Figueroa 2012); analyses of school curricula for EE, ESD, and/or climate change content in countries such as Guyana (Bynoe and Simmons 2014) and Jamaica (Roofe and Ferguson 2018); tertiary-level climate change curricula in Jamaica (Ferguson and Bramwell-Lalor 2018); and environmental science education in Aruba (Eppinga, de Scisciolo, and Mijts 2019), to name but some areas of ESE research activity. It is not meant to be an exhaustive list though, but rather serves to highlight areas of interest for early career to more established academics in the region thus far. From a brief scan, we see that engagement with both formal and non-formal learning, with education at various levels, and with perceptions of and interactions with nature and the environment is consistent and common, as it is in many other regions (Miller and Howell 1989; Down 2011; Ferguson 2016).

Adding to this, Special Issues of regional journals have been devoted to EE and ESD, and these tend to offer more depth, and a wider range of perspectives and contributors. Notable examples include the 2008 issue of Caribbean Journal of Education, edited by academic Marceline Collins-Figueroa (Collins-Figueroa 2008, see https://www.mona.uwi.edu/soe/publications/cje/journal/cje-vol-30-no-1) and, more recently, the 2018 issue of Caribbean Quarterly, edited by academics Michael Taylor, Lorna Down, and Kimberley Stephenson (see Down, Taylor, and Stephenson 2018). Also of note is work associated with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), when it convened a regional conference on ESD in Jamaica in 2010. Proceedings from that conference, which included many academic contributions, appeared in the inaugural issue of Caribbean Journal of Education for Sustainable Development (Diamond, Scudder, and Pateman 2011). Significant as well is the Teacher’s Guide for ESD in the region, which followed on from the launch of the 2005–2014 United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UN DESD) (Cambers et al. 2008b). Regionally-focused and regionally-authored publications such as these highlight the increasing import and opportunities accorded to ESE in the region by its academics and practitioners.

With this backdrop in mind, I now share my thoughts on four areas of inquiry that I believe could benefit from further engagement by researchers and practitioners, specifically: (i) climate change education, (ii) the natural environment, aggression and violence, (iii) teacher education, and (iv) universities as models of sustainability. As I will briefly sketch, to my mind these four areas are central to responding to key issues affecting nations in the region – climate change and violence – and can move forward EE and ESD whilst simultaneously supporting the SDGs. I invite you to respond to my observations and suggestions, joining us in identifying and addressing some of the blind, blank, bald and bright spots for research in the region and international ESE (Reid 2019).

Climate change education

One of the key imperatives for ESE research in the Caribbean surrounds the issue of climate change. Tropical environments are inherently vulnerable to climate change due to their particular geographic features, e.g. their location and ecological characteristics, alongside various socio-economic factors and interactions (Benjamin 2010; Rhiney 2015; Taylor 2015; Taylor et al. 2012). As a result, both island and mainland states face risks to their natural, social, economic, and human capital (Bynoe and Simmons 2014). It goes without saying that climate change education (CCE) to support mitigation and adaptation in the region is a must for the regional populace, whether that is to: (a) ensure knowledge about key facets of climate change; (b) develop skills to make decisions about, solve problems of, and creatively address the phenomena; or (c) nurture or instil values such as tolerance and empathy for those vulnerable to its effects, particularly given the issues of climate inequities even within the region.

There is undoubtedly a burgeoning literature on climate change and education both from outside and inside the region, including in this journal. In the context of this editorial, it is worth noting that in 2018, the aforementioned journal Caribbean Quarterly devoted its Special Issue to Climate Change and Education for Sustainable Development (see https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rcbq20/64/1). Articles focused on such topics as the Regional Climate Science Initiative, experiential learning for farmer engagement and empowerment, tertiary-level sustainability and climate change education initiatives, disaster risk management information for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), and implementers’ perspectives on ESD projects. The issue represents an important collection of recent Caribbean-focused research with respect to CCE and ESD.

Nevertheless, I argue there still needs to be more growth and a refocusing of scholarly activities in and about the region. As one of the fundamentals, there must be research and/or audits of curricula content for climate change to offer baseline data and/or to support infusion, such as that undertaken by Bynoe and Simmons (2014) on science and social studies primary school curricula in Guyana. There also needs to be further assessment, evaluation and research of impact where curricular content does incorporate climate change, on students’ knowledge, skills, values and attitudes, alongside where and when it does not impact as expected, and when and why it is not incorporated, such as when it remains extra-curricular (cf. Taylor 1988). Beyond this, researchers must engage with facets of CCE that touch on issues of PWDs, CCE and children, and schools themselves as spaces of resiliency and safety. Additionally, given the strong faith base of many Caribbean nations (e.g. Christianity in Jamaica, and Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam in Guyana), the role of faith and interfaith education merits further investigation. To illustrate briefly, Swee-Hin and Cawagas (2010) have examined how various faiths share values that promote harmonious relationships with earth, emphasising, for example, interdependence among all parts of the universe and a divine act of creation by a supreme deity. They explain that these faiths have “shared values and principles for inspiring their followers to live in harmony with the earth, and thereby contribute to the building of sustainable futures based on active nonviolence, justice, human rights, and intercultural respect” (Swee-Hin and Cawagas 2010, 176). Exploring faith-based and interfaith-based foundations and approaches to education in the Caribbean context, and religious/theological contributions to sustainable development in the region, could therefore be useful–and telling–for understanding the practices, potentials and prospects for CCE and ESD initiatives in these countries (e.g. Lalor, 2018, cf. UNESCO, 2019, on approaches in ‘Latin America and the Caribbean’, Figure 6, p.8, or more broadly, specific priorities in nations for education, training, communication and public awareness ¹ ).

Environment and violence

Nations within the region have struggled with issues of crime and violence, challenges that can undermine sustainable development processes and goals in various ways. Caribbean countries such as Jamaica have high rates of violence (UNDP, 2012). A few researchers have focused on how children’s natural and/or physical environments have influenced how they perceive nature, but it remains a telling gap in our studies, despite pleas to address this.

Take Elizabeth Thomas-Hope, a former Grace Kennedy endowed Chair in Environmental Management at The University of the West Indies (UWI), who argued for a need for a revolution in the approach to education in the Caribbean. This was after highlighting the conscious and unconscious interactions of children to adults from a range of backgrounds, and the influence of the conditions for and forms of contact with the physical environment in the development of self-identity and relationships with and within the natural world. In a particularly powerful extract from her 1996 public lecture on ‘The Environmental Dilemma in Caribbean Context’, the esteemed geographer lamented that: “Children in Kingston’s so-called ‘garrison’ communities, where green is the colour of a political party, not of vegetation, grow up in an environment devoid of nature. The power, which they assert over their own environment, reflects inner anger rather than positive interaction. Cats, you kick; dogs, you stone; and birds, you shoot. They do not find a friend in any of these animals, nor do animals find a friend in them” (Thomas-Hope 1996, 10).

Such seminal research, summaries and calls to action need to be reimagined for the 2020s, even as they continue to focus on the psychological impacts of contact with nature and the converse – lack of contact with nature – on aggression and violence over the lifetime, at home and in the Caribbean diaspora (see for example, Lousley 1999, p.301, on racist assumptions and framings; and Down 2007, on a project in initial teacher education to address attitudes to and behaviours of violence through literature that unpicks social/historical, economic and environmental aspects, p.7). Based in the USA, academics Kuo and Sullivan (2001) pointed out that greenery in urban areas, such as in community parks, can enhance cognitive functioning and decrease mental fatigue which may lead to irritability and decreased impulse control. This points to the role of nature, but also both connection to nature and place as potent psychological factors in reducing violence and aggression. So given the levels of aggression and violence in a number of Caribbean societies, research surrounding the psychological and educative benefits of nature in violence prevention and peace remains an important arena for inquiry. Linked to this is research on the human-nature connection and how urban and green spaces, travel, work, and exposure to nature and so forth can heighten and/or diminish connection to nature and, by extension, environmental care and protection, respect and care for self, others, and the environment in the lives of educators and those being educated, or otherwise (e.g. on ethnographic approaches, Tzou and Bell 2012, but see also Taylor 1988).

Teacher education

A related area of importance then, is pre- and in-service teacher education. Major global documents and initiatives underscore the significance of and prioritise capacity-building in teacher education including Agenda 21, the UN DESD, and the Global Action Programme on ESD (UNCED, 1992; UNESCO 2014). The literature on EE and ESD highlights the importance of teachers in the dissemination of environmental and sustainability knowledge, with scholars in the region concurring with this call (e.g. Collins-Figueroa et al. 2008; Hordatt Gentles 2018; Ori and Blanchard 2015; Down 2015). In my own early research on environmental education for sustainable development in Jamaica (Ferguson 2008b), I highlighted that teachers are those in the classroom best positioned to translate written curricula into lived experience in the classroom. This relies on their own pedagogical content knowledge and expertise in EE, ESD and related issues, as well as their own skills development, and clarification of their own values and attitudes, and as the foci shift for internal and external reasons, so must our research, to stay abreast of these changes, and inform current and future generations of teachers and stakeholders in ESE.

On this, I note that significant work in ESD and teacher education has been carried out in the region, through both the Joint Board of Teacher Education (JBTE) and UWI on the infusion of EE and/or ESD in teacher education. Work has also been accomplished through the Mainstreaming of Environment and Sustainability in Caribbean Universities (MESCA) network. Academics such as Down (2008), Ferguson (2008b), Collins-Figueroa (2012), and Hordatt Gentles (2018) have engaged with various facets of teacher education. However, minimal to no research has been carried out or published on the impact of capacity-building initiatives, for instance, the impact of MESCA workshops held in the region. Research, including by graduate students, is needed to assess impact of capacity-building and training initiatives in teacher education, especially with respect to teachers’ knowledge and skills, and also in terms of the translation of capacity-building efforts into the classroom. Research is also needed on models for capacity-building in teacher education (what works best) and teachers own self-efficacy with respect to CCE and ESD (barriers and enabling factors).

Universities as models of sustainability

The fourth and final area where I believe more research is needed is through a focus on the claims and evidence base for universities acting as exemplars of ESE. Speaking with reference to CCE in particular, Rooney and McMillin (2010) propose that university campuses can move beyond the delivery and dissemination of knowledge and research to drive CCE through outreach and engagement with communities, institutional behaviour, and campus design. Concomitant with this, research is needed in the Caribbean to assess the impact of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) environmental and sustainability work in the areas of (i) education and training, (ii) research, (iii) community engagement, and (iv) campus operations. Additionally, research is needed to inform the design of initiatives and engagement. Given the existence of a major regional institution in the Caribbean – UWI – alongside various other tertiary-level institutions in both the island and mainland nations, this is an apt moment for research driven by these HEIs on these HEIs for the further work of these HEIs. A critical aspect of this must be the effect of university outreach and community programmes, and how these programmes interface with the communities, alongside studies of the drivers, capacities and nesting of these programmes in wider initiatives, e.g. as beacons in regional centres of expertise in ESE, but also in relation to their funding, leadership, mentoring and professional learning.

In addition, it is important to recognise that this research can encompass participatory action-based research in which academics, in collaboration with colleagues and/or students, undertake inquiries in EE and ESD “in partnership with community members in order to build research competencies, engage in transformative learning, and promote lifelong learning in communities” (Ferguson 2017, 119).

Conclusion

In this year 2020, while I acknowledge that although the Caribbean regional body of literature on ESE has not reached the extent of the literature base that exists in Anglophone areas such as Australasia, North America, or the United Kingdom, it is growing, and not just in English too (see Briggs, Trautmann, and Fournier 2018). Emerging and established scholars have been contributing to a steadily advancing field of inquiry across the lifespan, be they working in the predominantly English-speaking or Spanish-speaking Caribbean (see, for example, Ellis 2000; González‐Gaudiano 1999, 2007, p.158). With this in mind, I have proposed several areas ripe not only for deeper inquiry but of urgency too, given the current global and regional issues at play, as well as the acknowledged role of HEIs in supporting and advancing this work. As one of the leading international journals in the field of ESE, Environmental Education Research has always welcomed empirical, philosophical, practice and/or policy-based contributions from those working in the region. It is my hope that this Editorial goes some way to encouraging those working within and beyond the region to take stock, stimulating additional inquiry in the Caribbean and via comparative efforts (cf. González‐Gaudiano & Lorenzetti, 2013), as well as furthering the writing up and dissemination of Caribbean-focused ESE research which can be published in forums and formats such as those offered by this journal. I would like to end by proposing that a Special Issue of Environmental Education Research could be devoted to ESE in the Caribbean region and centred on three or four key areas (those raised in this Editorial or others) and serve as a springboard for increasing research dialogue and collaboration amongst those working in the region.

Notes on Contributor

Therese Ferguson is a Lecturer in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the School of Education at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica. She is the Coordinator of the ESD Working Group within the School of Education and the Programme Leader for Change from Within, a school-based initiative in Jamaica which addresses violence and indiscipline. Her research interests include ESD, environmental education, children and the environment, and peace education.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For practice development examples, case studies and country profiles from the region, see, for example, UNESCO (2012, 2015a, 2015b).