Environmental citizenship, a commitment to participation, in Portugal

Abstract

The concept of Environmental Education arose together with the need to call attention to, raise awareness of and stimulate debate about how to live on a planet whose development and sustainability have become increasingly fragile. Understanding the development of environmental education has helped comprehend the important role it has played in changing how the public perceives the environment. Important international conferences have emerged as the drivers of meaningful change within society via the impact they have had on the public, schools and, at a later stage, universities. The role played by non-governmental environmental organizations, together with civil society and schools, in the definition and implementation of measures to promote sound environmental practices within civil society is noteworthy. Similarly, environmental education facilities are now places where behavioral change is created and exercised. Although the notion of public participation has only become commonplace over recent decades, the concept behind this democratic practice has had a long history. The Aarhus Convention has motivated public participation by giving citizens the political instruments to encourage the individual to the assumption of the environmental citizenship.