Teenagers’ Awareness about Local Vertebrates and Their Functions: Strengthening Community Environmental Education in a Mexican Shade-Coffee Region to Foster Animal Conservation

Ellen Andresen, Paulina López-del-Toro, Montserrat Franquesa-Soler, Francisco Mora and Laura Barraza
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Ellen Andresen: Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (IIES–UNAM), Morelia 8701, Mexico
Paulina López-del-Toro: Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (IIES–UNAM), Morelia 8701, Mexico
Montserrat Franquesa-Soler: Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (IIES–UNAM), Morelia 8701, Mexico
Francisco Mora: Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (IIES–UNAM), Morelia 8701, Mexico
Laura Barraza: Education for Sustainability, Servicios Ambientales, Conservación Biológica y Educación A.C. (SACBÉ), Mexico City 04010, Mexico

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 20, 1-14

Abstract: Peoples’ understanding and appreciation of wildlife are crucial for its conservation. Nevertheless, environmental education in many tropical countries is seldom incorporated into public-school curricula and wildlife topics are often underrepresented. In this research we aimed to (1) assess the effects of an environmental education intervention focused on improving students’ awareness about wild vertebrates and their ecological functions and (2) to evaluate whether previous exposure to general environmental education could improve the effects of the intervention. We worked in four schools in a high-biodiversity shade-coffee-producing region in Mexico; two of the schools had received general environmental education as part of a Community Program, while the other two had not. In all schools we conducted a targeted intervention providing information about wild vertebrates and their ecological functions. Through questionnaires, we assessed students’ awareness before and after the intervention. We found that students’ awareness about wildlife was improved by our intervention, and that this effect was stronger in students that had attended the Community Program. Our results contribute to Sustainable Development Goals 11 and 15 by showing that targeted education interventions can help achieve specific conservation goals, and that previous community-based environmental education can condition peoples’ awareness, improving the assimilation and/or understanding of new concepts.

Keywords: agroecosystem; biodiversity conservation; conservation education; indigenous community; local knowledge (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:20:p:8684-:d:431544

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