1 Tbilisi Declaration (1977)

The world's first intergovernmental conference on environmental education was

organized by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) in cooperation with the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) and
was convened in Tbilisi, Georgia (USSR) from October 14-26, 1977.

Delegates from 66 member states and observers from two nonmember states
participated. Representatives and observers from eight U.N. agencies and programs
also participated. Three other intergovernmental organizations and 20 international
nongovernmental organizations also were represented. In all, 265 delegates and 65
representatives and observers took part in the conference.

The Tbilisi Declaration was adopted by acclamation at the close of the

intergovernmental conference. The declaration noted the unanimous accord in the
important role of environmental education in the preservation and improvement of
the world's environment, as well as in the sound and balanced development of the
world's communities.

The Role, Objectives, and Characteristics of Environmental Education

The Tbilisi Declaration together with two of the recommendations of the

Conference constitutes the framework, principles, and guidelines for
environmental education at all levels—local, national, regional, and international—
and for all age groups both inside and outside the formal school system.

I. The Conference recommends the adoption of certain criteria which will help
to guide efforts to develop environmental education at the national, regional, and
global levels:

1. Whereas it is a fact that biological and physical features constitute the

natural basis of the human environment, its ethical, social, cultural, and
economic dimensions also play their part in determining/he lines of
approach and the instruments whereby people may understand and m~e
better use of natural resources in satisfying their needs.
2. Environmental education is the result of the reorientation and dovetailing of
different disciplines and educational experiences which facilitate an
integrated perception of the problems of the environment, enabling more
rational actions capable of meeting social needs to be taken.
3. A basic aim of environmental education is to succeed in making individuals
and communities understand the complex nature of the natural and the built
environments resulting from the interaction of their biological, physical,
 social, economic, and cultural aspects, and acquire the ~knowledge, values,
attitudes, and practical skills to participate in a responsible and effective
way in anticipating and solving environmental problems, and in the
management of the quality of the environment.
4. A further basic aim of environmental education is clearly to show the
economic, political, and ecological interdependence of the modern world, in
which decisions and actions by different countries can have international
repercussions. Environmental education should, in this regard, help to
develop a sense of responsibility and solidarity among countries and regions
as the foundation for a new international order which will guarantee the
conservation and improvement of the environment.
5. Special attention should be paid to understanding the complex relations
between socio-economic development and the improvement of the
environment.
6. For this purpose, environmental education should provide the necessary
knowledge for interpretation of the complex phenomena that shape the
environment, encourage those ethical, economic, and esthetic values which,
constituting the basis of self-discipline, will further the development of
conduct compatible with the preservation and improvement of the
environment. It should also provide a wide range of practical skills required
in the devising and application of effective solutions to environmental
problems.
7. To carry out these tasks, environmental education should bring about a
closer link between educational processes and real life, building its activities
around the environmental problems that are faced by particular communities
and focusing analysis on these by means of an interdisciplinary,
comprehensive approach which will permit a proper understanding of
environmental problems.
8. Environmental education should cater to all ages and socio-professional
groups in the population. It should be addressed to (a) the general
nonspecialist public of young people and adults whose daily conduct has a
decisive influence on the preservation and improvement of the environment;
(b) to particular social groups whose professional activities affect the quality
of the environment; and © to scientists and technicians whose specialized
research and work will lay the foundations of knowledge on which
education, training, and efficient management of the environment should be
based.
9. To achieve the effective development of environmental education, full
advantage must be taken of all public and private facilities available to
society for the education of the population: the formal education system,
different forms of nonformal education, and the mass media.
10. To make an effective contribution towards improving the environment,
educational action must be linked with legislation, policies, measures of
 control, and the decisions that governments may adopt in relation to the
human environment.

II. The Conference endorses the following goals, objectives, and guiding
principles for environmental education:

The goals of environmental education are:

1. to foster clear awareness of, and concern about, economic, social, political,
and ecological interdependence in urban and rural areas;
2. to provide every person with opportunities to acquire the knowledge, values,
attitudes, commitment, and skills needed to protect and improve the
environment;
3. to create new patterns of behavior of individuals, groups, and society as a
whole towards the environment.

The categories of environmental education objectives are:

Awareness—to help social groups and individuals acquire an awareness and
sensitivity to the total environment and its allied problems.

Knowledge—to help social groups and individuals gain a variety of experience in,
and acquire a basic understanding of, the environment and its associated problems.

Attitudes—to help social groups and individuals acquire a set of values and
feelings of concern for the environment and the motivation for actively
participating in environmental improvement and protection.

Skills—to help social groups and individuals acquire the skills for identifying and
solving environmental problems.

Participation—to provide social groups and individuals with an opportunity to be

actively involved at all levels in working toward resolution of environmental
problems.

Guiding principles—environmental education should

1. consider the environment in its totality—natural and built, technological and

social (economic, political, cultural-historical, ethical, esthetic);
2. be a continuous lifelong process, beginning at the preschool level and
continuing through all formal and nonformal stages;
3. be interdisciplinary in its approach, drawing on the specific content of each
discipline in making possible a holistic and balanced perspective;
4. examine major environmental issues from local, national, regional, and
international points of view so that students receive insights into
environmental conditions in other geographical areas;
5. focus on current and potential environmental situations while taking into
account the historical perspective;
6. promote the value and necessity of local, national, and international
cooperation in the prevention and solution of environmental problems;
7. explicitly consider environmental aspects in plans for development and
growth;
8. enable learners to have a role in planning their learning experiences and
provide an opportunity for making decisions and accepting their
consequences;
9. relate environmental sensitivity, knowledge, problem-solving skills, and
values clarification to every age, but with special emphasis on
environmental sensitivity to the learner's own community in early years;
10. help learners discover the symptoms and real causes of environmental
problems;
11. emphasize the complexity of environmental problems and thus the need to
develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills;
12. utilize diverse learning environments and a broad array of educational
approaches to teaching, learning about and from the environment with due
stress on practical activities and first-hand experience.