Perceptions and attitudes about local Sustainability of young people: A case study in rural areas, Beira Baixa, Portugal

article

Manso, Sandra
Caeiro, Sandra
Pardo, Carlos
Ramos, George
Nunes, Sara

Perceptions and attitudes about local Sustainability of young people: A case study in rural areas, Beira Baixa, Portugal

Educating for sustainability
Sustainable Development Goal
Youth
Rural Municipality
Beira Baixa

2021-01-04T09:34:55Z
2021-01-04T09:34:55Z
2020

In 2015, the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) defined a new agenda and supplied a holistic and multidimensional view for development. These Goals are challenges to traditional teaching methods, and important to educate for Sustainable Development (SD) and involve young people in the participative model. Young generation can contribute to promote environmental conscience, and to the change in values and attitudes towards sustainability. Bearing in mind that each player has its own “language” it is essential to promote dialogue between science and society, namely among the youth. The case study of this research takes place in the context of a special program, that aims to establish scientific publication partnerships between Secondary Education Schools (SESs) and the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and it refers to the Beira Baixa region. This region is predominately rural, that represents approximately 0.8% of the resident population of Portugal (around 83 thousand people), having one of the lowest rates of young people in the country (10.6%). The main goal of this work is to reflect on the perception that the youth has about SD, based on the results from a questionnaire applied to a group from the region’s student population in Secondary Education. The questionnaire comprises of five parts: i) characterization of the sample; ii) SD perception, iii) SD evaluation in the municipality of residence, iv) what is important to evaluate in the region’s SD, v) voluntary activities. The results allowed to verify that the large majority of the students has heard of the term SD, having school and the media been the major contributors. When asked about the evaluation of SD in the region, referring to the four dimensions, and according to a traffic light, the majority considered the environmental dimension “green”, the economic and governance “yellow” and the social dimension is divided between “green” and “yellow”. About 40% of the students considers that their quality of life “is the same” as in previous years. When asked about what is important to evaluate in their region’s SD and, specifically which of the SDG are more important to their region, the main ones are: Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3), Affordable and clean energy (SDG 7) and Climate action (SDG 13). Most of them considers that the process for selecting indicators should have their opinion in mind. This project intends to improve the level of knowledge about SD (knowledge acquisition, skills and attitudes), mostly among young people, so that their future decisions are informed and efficient and promote a commitment towards a sustainable future. There is a continuous need, urgent and vital, to create and develop innovative tools to educate the young people on sustainability that allow for the improvement of their knowledge, their skills and their attitudes about SD and the SDG. This work demonstrates that the SESs, connected to the HEIs, can play a vital role in awareness about SD and, specifically about the SDG, so that SD can be reached from the local to the global levels, in order to contribute towards social change and a more sustainable future.
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