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Environmental Education: A Key to Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries – The Cases of Nigeria and Guyana

Jerry U. Uhuo, M.Sc. National Assembly

Three Arms Zone Abuja, Nigeria

Jertacom01@yahoo.com

Anita Závodská, Ph.D. School of Adult and Continuing Education

Barry University 8001 SW 36th Street, Suite #1

Davie, FL 33328, USA azavodska@mail.barry.edu

Abstract: Since the step was globally taken to include environmental education in the educational system, it has emerged in most developing countries as a leading approach to addressing environmental problems and engendering sustainable development. Knowledge and understanding of the environment are important since a degraded environment means a lower quality of life for all. It is, therefore, the collective responsibility of all human beings to secure a healthy environment not only for present, but also for future generations, so building environmental curricula on this principle becomes a necessity. The authors of this paper hold the view that there is a clear inadequacy in the environmental education paradigm in both the Nigerian and Guyanese educational curricula as they pertain to solid waste management. The Nigerian National Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), for instance, only brushed elements of environmental problems into the subjects of english language, social studies, health education, integrated science, agricultural science and geography among others. A similar situation can be found in the Guyanese educational model, where under the curricula set forth by the Ministry of Education some environmental science is taught mainly under the umbrella of integrated science, although it is also touched upon in geography and social studies. These approaches are insufficient if environmental protection is to be undertaken sustainably as presently advocated through environmental awareness and educational programming globally. Both the Nigerian and the Guyanese curricula need adjustments to allow for the inclusion of standard environmental education and training at the primary, secondary, tertiary, and informal levels. In so doing, the nations and their peoples would prospectively thwart the on-going environmental damage which is a threat to human survival and sustenance both now and in the future due to the lack of proper management of solid waste. In appreciating the obvious challenges to environmental education in Nigeria and Guyana, the authors make recommendations for the

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planning of future environmental awareness and education as they pertain to the educational systems. Keywords: environmental education; environmental science; educational systems; solid waste management; Nigeria; Guyana Introduction

Throughout human history education has been generally recognised as a means of obtaining knowledge which helps mankind make sound and practical decisions in future planning. This knowledge equips modern humans with irrepressible tools for survival through the processes of learning the three basics of: to see, to hear and to do. Education is generally a process whose ultimate goal is internalisation of life-long learning skills. It should be universal in scope and application since its implications and results have universal import. Organised groups such as nations have come to recognise education as the most important investment for the present and the future and hence spend a lot in propagating it (Obede, 1977). Environmental education has a broader definition since it embraces ecological issues, development practices and social concerns. It is education for sustainable living, the type which enables people to make informed choices that will lead to more sustainable living practices and lifestyles and is a process of developing the skills and behaviour necessary to understand and accept the relationship between people, culture and the natural environment (Grodzinka-Jurczak et al., 2006). Its aim is to prepare society in practical decision-making and to teach environmentally-friendly behaviour. Environmental education should, therefore, be a fundamental and integral part of education for all members of society.

Modern societies, both developed and developing, need environmental education in its formal and informal aspects. Knowledge of the environment, its conservation and threats must be integrated with the development of sensitivity to, and respect for, the natural environment and the formation of proper attitudes towards it.

Fundamental education is therefore the kind of education aimed at realising a sustainable living for mankind as a whole. It is “Education for Sustainable Development” whose objective, according to UNESCO (2003), includes the promotion of values and ethics at different levels in order to make an impact on peoples’ lifestyles and behaviour and to help build a sustainable future. It is, therefore, an education designed to motivate, equip and involve individuals and social groups in reflecting on how they currently live and work in making informed decisions and creating ways to work towards a more sustainable world. The World Conservation Union (2003) suggests that it is a kind of learning for change among adults and youth in order to achieve sustainable living. Furthermore, this kind of education, which is different from the traditional pattern, aims at realising adaptive management and systems thinking which require creativity, flexibility and critical reflection, ensuring public participation for decision-making.

Environmental education must become imperative if we are to preserve the planet for the present as well as the future. There is no doubt that our environment has been terribly degraded and abused given un-abating utilisation of mainly non-renewable resources. Research has regularly drawn our attention to irreparable damage that may

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compound the problems of human existence if the level of environmental abuse continues at its present rate. Westing et al. (2001) maintain that humans are utilising all of the world’s major renewable natural resources at rates ever more greatly exceeding their natural abilities to renew themselves while introducing pollutants into the environment at levels increasingly beyond the point at which they can naturally degrade into insignificance. Perhaps the most abused of these is the world’s freshwater. In addition, humans are encroaching ever more drastically upon what remains of relatively wild nature throughout the world. No wonder the United Nations Conference on Climate Change which took place in Copenhagen in December, 2009 generated so much debate and interest among world leaders, interest groups and professionals.

A degraded environment, writes Soewu (2004), can only offer a degraded quality of life. If we really desire to sustain and improve upon the present quality of life, then it is the collective responsibility of every living human being to secure the quality of the environment. We need to join to support and contribute towards saving our environment. Contracting HIV/AIDS, for instance, is preventable, but sharing in the consequences of a degraded environment or the loss of both renewable and non-renewable environmental resources is neither preventable nor selective; it affects environmental saints and sinners alike because environmental factors transcend natural and artificial barriers (Soewu, 2004).

It has been repeatedly emphasised that there is irrepressible need for entrenching environmental education as a leading approach to solving environmental problems and creating sustainable societies. The poor as well as the affluent are equally vulnerable to environmental damage. The poor and poverty-stricken people, wherever they may live, are generally preoccupied with issues of physical survival. They lack money, skills and knowledge, and therefore, often times, tend to over-utilise local resources beyond sustainable levels. They, therefore, need to be empowered to be able to control their resources and therefore their lives. Affluent lifestyles of individuals and societies in the developed world also paradoxically pose severe threat to the environment. Due to lack of sufficient knowledge of the environmental consequences, the level of consumption tends to rise and so do resource depletion rates, leading to ever-increasing quantities of waste produced. Thus, environmental education must be seen as fundamental not only to the residents of poor communities and societies but to all classes and societies with emphasis on the new learning process based on the identification of problems and issues by communities and their members. Nigeria and the Environment An Overview

The environmental degradation in Nigeria is quite deplorable. The concern for global environmental awareness expressed at the 1972 Stockholm Conference on Human Environment and at the 1976 Vancouver (Canada) Conference on Human Settlement (Habitat) did not get any public attention. Neither did the activities of the United Nations Environment Programme. It was not until June 1988 when a report was circulated that a certain cargo berthed and dropped its cargo of toxic waste at a site in Koko, Delta State that changes began to occur. The toxic cargo was later confirmed to have been dumped in five shipment loads totaling 3,884 metric tonnes. Ironically, during this period Nigeria was

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condemning neighboring African states for officially accepting foreign toxic waste cargoes for disposal at a fee. The Nigerian government somehow woke up from slumber and enacted Decree 58 of 1988 which set up the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA). This agency was specifically mandated to establish and prescribe national guidelines, criteria and standards for water quality, air quality and atmospheric protection, noise levels, gaseous emissions and effluent limits; and to monitor and control hazardous substances, among its responsibilities. Before the toxic waste dump at Koko, Nigerian policymakers had, however, in the past, channeled some public resources to programmes of land erosion control, conservation of natural resources, and reforestation projects at the Sahel region to control desertification. As with many developing countries, examples of mismanagement were many. For instance, in a report on Agenda 21 (2010) presented by Nigeria at the fifth session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, the Nigerian Government announced that it took such unsustainable decisions as applying and obtaining some US$180 million from the World Bank as a loan to finance “urban development projects in 15 states of the federation which included improved storm drainage and sanitation, urban roads rehabilitation, water and solid waste management, market development, water rehabilitation, motor park development, river draining/channelisation, and street lighting.” Under the same World Bank Infrastructure Development Fund Programme, the leftover (if any) of the borrowed fund was booted away when “officers of State and Federal agencies (were) trained in various aspects of urban management and computer literacy” (Agenda 21, 2010).

The insensibility of environmental awareness problems together with some soft-handedness in picking, without reflecting on consequences of another World Bank Loan on the account of environmental concern happened between 1995 and 1996. To engage in what was referred to as “capacity building,” a non-problem-solving loan bereft of environmental education awareness was taken for the forestry programme. The loan was used to provide international and local training to 325 individuals in 1996 (Agenda 21, 2010). To rationalise the stupendous expenditure, it was necessary to include the phrase “In addition, about 35,000 individuals and farmers benefited from in-house courses,” but in reality, the Forestry Extension and Advisory Services would have been more effectively pursued through enlightenment programmes and activities to break down the serious public apathy towards environmental conservation ethics and practices. This would have ensured better reception and pursuit of sustainable development principles by everyone including at the grassroots level (Alero, 2010).

It is to be noted, however, that substantial inputs have been made by the Nigerian Government towards environmental control. For instance, the Nigerian government established an Ecological Fund into which a mandatory statutory allocation of 1% of the Gross National Revenue is kept “to take care of ecological problems including natural disasters.” Additionally, an amendment of Decree 59 of 1992 approved an additional 0.5% of the earnings of Gross National Revenue as a statutory grant to FEPA. What one often hears about environmental planners’ activities in Nigeria include programmes “to enlighten, educate, and raise awareness of the Nigerian population through media (both print and electronic) campaigns on environmental issues. Identification, education and training of officials that would form the cores of the Environmental Education Network nationwide are

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being undertaken. Furthermore, FEPA has always engaged in social activities aimed at raising the level of public environmental awareness” (Agenda 21, 2010).

The Nigerian-style environmental management and awareness practices include the organization of conferences, seminars, workshops and trainings, and the use of consultants. These and other examples include annual tree-planting campaigns, the establishment of the Media Environmental Merit Award, encouraging the Young Forester’s Club and the Conservation Club, hosting of the World Environmental Day Annual World Meteorological Day celebrations and promoting a two-yearly international environmental seminar on the petroleum industry and the Nigerian Environment. These activities are usually elitist urban-based engagements and pastimes with little or no relevance to and contact with over 99% of the Nigerian population whose proper environmental education and awareness for environmental management would improve the environmental situation.

Again, amidst all these moonshine interventions in the environment stratagem, there are yawning gaps in strategically preparing children of school age in the environmental education skills and know-how. The Nigerian Education System

How much environmental education are Nigerian children getting at school? Are they acquiring the knowledge, values, skills and competences that they need to guarantee a sustainable tomorrow? These and other questions have remained central in the public discourse on environmental education and training systems in Nigeria. Educational challenges in Nigeria are no doubt immense, but over and above the usual checklist of resource and facility defects, are curriculum design and learning process tasks for environmental education and training practices in Nigeria.

Countries design national curricula to embody the knowledge and skills deemed important for the education of their young citizens with the ultimate goal of ensuring that learners acquire a reasonable degree of competence in the various fields of everyday life. The Nigerian curriculum planners have not given environmental education ample space in the national curriculum. The reality is that whatever elements of environmental education currently exist came about more as a result of the efforts of environmentally-conscious groups and individuals, and less as the deliberate efforts of government. For instance, the concerted effort of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) in 1988 was what gave the impetus to the initial infusion of some elements of environmental education into the Citizenship Education curriculum in 1990. Another such effort was undertaken by UNESCO which sponsored a national workshop on the integration of environmental education into the national school curriculum. The combined force of these efforts perhaps facilitated the joint curriculum development project between Nigerian Educational Research and Development council (NERDC) and FEPA which facilitated the inclusion of elements of environmental education in the junior secondary schools programme. This joint collaboration recognised that environmental education was necessary for junior secondary schools “to assist government to build institutional capacity and make operational its education and environment policies of achieving an environmentally literate citizenry empowered sufficiently to deal with current environmental problems such as sustainable development” (Okeke, 1997). To achieve this, the junior secondary programme allowed for the curriculum “infusion approach” whereby themes in environmental education were infused into the curricula of the following subjects: english language, social studies, health

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education, integrated science, geography and agricultural science. The infusion was based on four themes: 1) ecological foundation; 2) human environment/development; 3) environmental change/impact; and 4) sustainable development.

Apparently these themes constitute topics which are given fleeting attention by often ill-equipped teachers who are sometimes ignorant of what they are required to deliver by the instrumentality of the already prepared modules. Apart from the situation in the primary and secondary schools, Yusuf (2002) has also noted that environmental education is equally neglected in the training programme in the Nigerian Certificate of Education (NCE) curriculum design. According to her research findings, of the eleven courses in the General Studies Department in the NCE programme, “only Course GSE105 (Citizenship Education) has a fragment of environmental education.” That fragment also constitutes one of the ten topics. Yet, the threat of the current state of the environment to human survival has reached such an alarming rate that it calls for pervasive and global attention.

Although pledges were made by the NERDC during the design of the curriculum in 2001 to have “expert guidelines for updating the scope and relevance of the school curricula in the light of emergent global issues,” not much was done to the main framework as it concerns environmental education. The council’s announcement that the “new changes in the 2002 curriculum were to “avoid the problem of over-loading without compromising standards and quality” only showed the lack of seriousness in making environmental education a core subject concern in the national educational system. It should be reiterated that the entire educational transformation to achieve environment-friendly, problem-solving and development-oriented education in view of the pursuit of the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) hinges on the urgent need for curriculum change. Curriculum, according to Ogunyemi (2005) is understood to mean the totality of the experiences the learners acquire under the guidance of the school. Such experiences could be distilled into three programmes: studies, guidance and activities. The programme of studies essentially focuses on the basic academic learning. The programme of guidance involves things like remedial support for weak learners and counseling in career choice (e.g. choice of school subjects) and the programme of activities is concerned with voluntary associations, participation in community development projects, drama, games, sports and other activities generally described as extra-curricular.

Official attempts at transforming the educational system are at best reflected in the changes in content and structure of curriculum which for all practical purposes are concerned with what is learnt and not how it is learnt. Simply put, the Nigerian educational system is yet to crystallise a formal approach that creates a learning process which appreciates the strengths and talents of learners and engages them as active participants.

Indeed, the real-life classroom design in Nigeria is such that learners are respondents to the teacher’s activities. Communication between a learner and a teacher is rigidly structured as the teacher is entirely aloof and communicates through the blackboard aided by the cane. In fact, the cane is an existential reality which has a permanent place on the teacher’s table. Most often the teacher stresses a point on the board by using the cane to point at hardened facts of the classroom test in addition to its being used to extract vengeful punishment from learners. It is a Nigerian educational experience that a good number of school dropouts are those who have taken flight to survive the cane in an educational system where rules of discipline emphasise corporal punishment “to avoid spoiling the child.”

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Guyana and the Environment An Overview

The situation in Guyana is not quite as bad, but then, Guyana has a much smaller population and much less industry compared to the hazards of petroleum extraction in Nigeria. Guyana’s main exports are found in the agricultural sector, namely rice and sugar. The main mining industry that plays a significant role in the GDP and has serious environmental impact is bauxite mining which results in land destruction and pollution. Mining for bauxite leads to the formation of gaping holes in the earth and results in thousands of tonnes of overburden on the sites of these unsightly excavations. Unregulated and often illegal gold mining in the jungles, mainly on the private level, has proven to have much more acute and disastrous consequences on both Guyana’s indigenous peoples and nature. The main problem is acid mine drainage into nearby rivers and lakes from unlined, poorly-constructed and poorly-managed cyanide-containing tailing ponds from the cyanide that was used to leach the gold from the ore. Some mines often just dump the toxic waste into surrounding water bodies. According to Dirty Gold (2010), “a rice-grain sized dose of cyanide can be fatal to humans; cyanide concentrations of 1 microgram per liter of water can be fatal to fish.” In 1995, when a tailings dam broke at the Omai gold mine in Guyana, which was at that time one of the largest open-pit mines in the world, 3 billion liters of cyanide-laden tailings were released into surrounding water bodies, including Guyana’s largest river, the Essequibo (Dirty Gold, 2010). For the indigenous people whose livelihoods and sole source of water are based on the Essequibo, this was a disaster as fish were no longer edible and the only source of water was too contaminated for human consumption. Water in plastic bottles was brought into for them and it was months before the fish were edible and water was potable once again. As is common in developing countries, because of the internal political situation in combination with the lack of enforceable environmental controls of the minimal environmental regulation present, the foreign-owned company paid no restitution for the damages to the locals or Guyana. This scenario, the lack of accountability for their actions, is very common in many developing countries – where companies from developed countries come to developing countries and behave in ways that they never would have at home. Following almost two decades of serious economic decline, in 1988 the Guyanese government embarked upon major changes in the country’s economic policy which included the creation of opportunities for private sector investment as part of the “Structural Adjustment Programme/Economic Recovery Programme.” This policy promoted, for the most part, the growth of the agricultural, mining and forestry sectors, the latter two which clearly require that managers be well versed in environmental management and that citizens be well informed on environmental issues (Filho, 1996). Even though the Guyanese constitution has long recognised the need for environmental education, the reality of the situation in the country is quite different. Filho (1996) gave several examples where the constitution refers to environmental protection: 1) Article 2:25 states that “Every citizen has a duty to participate in activities to improve the environment and protect the health of the nation.” 2) Article 2:46 states that “In the interest of the present and future generations the State will protect and make rational use of its flora and fauna, and will take all necessary measures to conserve and improve the environment.” On paper, such goals sound impressive, but reality is much more sobering.

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In combination with the new economic policy and the obvious need for environmental protection, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was formed in 1996 with the following mandate “To promote, facilitate and coordinate effective environmental management and protection; and the sustainable use of Guyana's natural resources” (EPA, 2010). The EPA operates under the Office of the President. According to Filho (1996), the National Environmental Policy states that the Government of Guyana will endeavour “to raise consciousness of the population on the environmental impacts of economic and social activities through comprehensive education and public awareness programmes.”

Local NGO’s such as the Lions’ Club, the Rotary Club and women’s organisations, as well as the EPA, promote environmental awareness. Most of this is geared toward the problem of littering and resulting health threats. A lot of this is done at the primary school level. The EPA promotes advertisements on the television and on the radio and it also holds meetings in schools where they try to educate school children and increase their awareness. There is talk about the future in terms of having clean surroundings and the importance of not littering to prevent major problems like flooding. In 2009, as a result of mostly plastic litter clogging up major waterways, Guyana suffered very serious floods (Badley, 2010). In a tropical country, the public health hazards that may arise from this can be significant, especially where malaria is once again on the rise. From the social and economic aspects, citizens are urged to keep the country clean so that tourism is not negatively affected. The Guyanese Education System

The Guyanese educational system is based on the British model. At 6 years of age, children enter Primary School where they study for 4 years following which they enter Secondary (High) School, where they remain for either 5 or 7 years. They sit exit exams at the end of the fifth year and those who do not wish to continue on to university may finish high school at this point. Those who do want to continue, spend an additional two years studying 3 or 4 subjects directly related to what their chosen field of study at university will be, e.g. sciences, arts, or business. After completing the two-year curriculum, they sit exams which serve as entrance exams into university.

Environmental science is not taught as a separate subject either in the primary or the secondary schools; rather it is incorporated into the subject of integrated science as well as to a certain extent into geography and social studies (Badley, 2010).

At the tertiary educational level, however, there is much more emphasis on the environment. Guyana has one state university, the University of Guyana, where a bachelor’s degree in environmental science is offered. Approved in 2005 within the Faculty of Natural Science, the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences offers a four-year Bachelor of Science programme in Environmental Sciences which “provides students with an understanding of the way in which the various sciences disciplines contribute to the study, solution and prevention of environmental problems; an understanding of the social, economic, and political aspects of environmental issues; the ability to conduct problem analysis and problem solving regarding the environment from a background in natural sciences and the ability to communicate orally and in written reports with colleague-scientist, policy makers and the general public” (University of Guyana, 2010). The Challenges

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Environmental education has a completely different curricular framework from the common, entrenched and currently used theoretical-type education. It is critical and problem-posing in character. Its orientation is directed towards the search for new areas through investigation. It poses the problem and seeks for alternative answers which should be less injurious to others and the environment. It therefore clearly encounters different kinds of impediments.

The first universal barrier is the subject-matter itself, the environment. Kim and Fortner (2006) state that addressing environmental issues in the classroom has never been an easy job for teachers, yet environmental issues actually motivate learners by making learning relevant to peoples’ lives and help them practice and develop skills such as decision-making, critical thinking and problem-solving.

It has also been found that external and personal impediments such as teachers’ attitudes, content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge constitute setbacks to environmental education and training (Kim and Fortner, 2006). They suggest that if in the teaching of environmental issues (attitude) the teacher has enough knowledge on environmental issues (content knowledge) and knows how to teach the environmental issues (pedagogical knowledge), then he or she will teach the issue more often or more properly. Here, content knowledge means knowledge of the subject – matter to be taught, and pedagogical knowledge means knowledge of how to teach.

As Boyes and Stanisstreet (1992) emphasise, teachers are supposed to know how to teach their subjects, as well as what to teach. Teachers should have special pedagogical knowledge, especially in addressing environmental issues which is “an important but complex idea” that is contentious, imperceptible to individuals, and abstract in nature. There is a tendency for teachers to have a general understanding of environmental issues but they often mistakenly combine environmental issues with other subject matter. Most of the misconceptions reported are on global climate change, ozone-layer depletion, acid deposition, and biodiversity reduction.

There is an urgent need for curriculum revision to allow for the inclusion of environmental education as subject with an articulate syllabus in both the Nigerian and Guyanese education systems.

Other impediments are political in nature. Nigerian leadership lacks the political will to transform Nigeria. Those beneficiaries of the status quo, namely active and retired politicians (godfathers), high echelon of the military and other service institutions, traditional rulers, district heads, agents of multinational corporations, bankers, industrialists, shareholders in profitable companies; in short the entire category of citizens usually described as the ruling class, have much to lose by allowing the introduction of an “environmental education” curriculum. The techniques of this pattern of education are harmonising, democratising, investigative, and critically inquisitive and liberating. The pattern may pave a way for a revolutionary adjustment of society to the personal detriment of the ruling class. This class clearly benefits from proceeds from the sale of crude oil, and from manipulations of tactics and instruments in governance, so they would prefer that no one query these activities. Critical environmental education may naturally enquire into alternative options to democratization than the use of military regression in certain parts of the country aimed at extorting compliance.

Motivation of teachers is a factor and an impediment. As is, there is a shortage of qualified teachers to provide basic learning to school children. Those in service are not very

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motivated due to low salaries and at times non-payment of these salaries and allowances. Under such circumstances, even if environmental education were introduced there will be little manpower and little motivation to propel it to fruition. Unavailability of sufficient educational institution and facilities is closely related to the issues of inadequate teaching staff. In Nigeria, most primary and secondary schools are presently in a sorry state, writes Ogunyemi (2005) (as they are) characterised by dilapidated structures, overcrowded classrooms, poor staffing, and unavailability of teaching and learning materials. A similar situation is found in Guyana where a massive brain-drain of the past two decades has led to a serious shortage of qualified teachers. As a result Nigerian and Guyanese school children learn in difficult environments which negatively affect their creative abilities and development into enterprising reflective citizens. Unless these conditions are changed the gains of environmental education for sustainable living will not be possible. Conclusions: What can be done?

Studies show that when pupils are given the opportunity to practice democracy in school, for instance, through becoming proactively involved in its curriculum development and learning process, they are given the opportunity to develop social competence which increases their ability to influence future societal development by taking active part in its democratic processes.

The perception held by young people both of environmental problems and of their role in solving them is of great importance for several reasons. In the near future they will have great influence on the running of business. The knowledge of the environment acquired through education will help to establish better pro-environmental education among their generation.

We need to create an enabling environment to ensure that they live worthy, meaningful and rewarding lives. It is imperative that we bequeath a legacy in which they will be equipped to assume leadership roles in order to make real inquires as learners, teachers and researchers into seemingly organic, material, social and symbolic experiences of what is generally known as “this destructive ecological crisis.”

The challenge before us is that we are morally forced to demonstrate our love for our children to enable them live in the future. There is no doubt that lack of environmental education negatively impacts people. This is the reason why people of all ages, especially in the rural areas, dump refuse indiscriminately on the street, road sides and around public places. This poses great challenges in tackling diseases like malaria in the third world. It is therefore recommended that:

• environmental education curricula be developed and included at all levels of Nigerian and Guyanese educational programmes where they are currently missing;

• environmental issues occupy ample space in public discourse; • environmental protection movements be formed across all levels of society so as to

entrench the philosophy of environmental awareness; • government and civil society organizations, particularly religious bodies in the

Nigerian case, take specific interest in promoting environmental awareness; • the Legislature has a fundamental role to play in ensuring proper legislation

towards making environmental education an integral part of nation building through public institutions.

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