Education in the Forest to Support Learning about Socio-Ecological Risk

Abstract

New challenges and opportunities are emerging to support young people to learn about socio-ecological risk. While experiences with risk are a daily occurrence, a new phase of history defined by global environmental change will transform lives in complex ways. All young people need to be provided with the knowledge and skills to critique the failings of modernity and learn to manage risk. For that reason, environmental pedagogies need to be balanced with critical understandings of risk across different societies. Forest research in Australia, Nepal and Switzerland highlights that understanding local perceptions of value and risk generates vital knowledge to inform conceptions of sustainable forest management, while providing critical knowledge and processes to support active learning. There are opportunities to guide education systems to help people develop understandings of how beautiful, biodiverse, forested landscapes can be managed sustainably within local socio-cultural contexts. Educators can utilise constructivist pedagogies to identify the values and risks of forests with walks, rides, explorations, monitoring, and analysis of different conceptions of sustainable management. In such a manner, learning about socio-ecological risk develops knowledge and skills, but also supports young people to become advocates and actors for positive change in the forest and beyond.