The development of science and technology on our planet has led mankind to look at nature differently. Due to the human nature of natural resources and its developmental laws, economic activities, such as soil erosion, loss of forests, excessive fishing, salt rains, atmospheric pollution, ozone depletion, and so on [1]. The consequences of the ecological crisis that began in the 1960s forced the scientific community to think about the «path» of scientific and technical development.
Experts believe that a number of theories on the essence and content of ecological world outlook (such as the causes of environmental crisis, action strategies, growth and organic development, protection and development, global governance, etc.) have been formed [2]. By the twenty-first century, the concept of a new UN Sustainable Development and the Environment has emerged [3].
As you know, in 1983, the United Nations Environment and Development Commission was set up by the United Nations Secretariat. This commission, headed by Norwegian Prime Minister G. Brundtland, published a lecture entitled “Our Common Future” in 1987 [4]. The report highlights the need for the transition to sustainable development for the first time.
Sustainable development means the development that will be accomplished without causing harm to the needs of future generations. The international community has been increasingly focusing on this issue in recent years.
Among these efforts, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) has set out the following strategic goals for sustainable development education, providing the economy with all the key sectors of the economy with qualified personnel, and ensuring that everyone has access to a healthy and meaningful life and in the field of environment protection — integration of environmental protection issues into the curriculum and population information support programs. Indeed, sustainable development requires the use of traditional environmental education achievements, taking account of local circumstances and enriching them with social, economic and cultural issues.
Today, environmentally friendly environment has become one of the most important factors in shaping the ecological awareness and culture of the population. Today’s demands for this issue should be paid particular attention to educating younger generation.
The historical experience of human development shows that each country should determine its priorities and action plans, set its own goals and objectives, and choose the most rational solutions based on social, economic, environmental and local conditions. In this regard, the reforms undertaken during the years of independence in the country include the provision of dignified living conditions in a healthy environment through the protection of the environment and the elevation of human factor.
One of the complex measures undertaken by the Government is currently being implemented within the framework of the Environmental Protection Action Plan of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2008–2012, approved by the Degree of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated September 19, 2008 No. 212. This program is based on the principles of environmental sustainability for the reforms carried out in the Republic of Uzbekistan, continuing with the 1999–2005 Environmental Program of the Republic of Uzbekistan, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated October 20, 1999, № 469, and its main provisions are socio-economic development programs and the design and implementation of their projects [5].
One of the main directions of the Program is to improve the normative-legal base and to develop ecological science, ecological education and upbringing of the population. This section of the program attaches great importance to the development of a regulatory framework in environmental protection and nature management, improving the system of continuous ecological education, culture and upbringing of the population, as well as the creation of the ecological map and atlas of the Republic of Uzbekistan. In this regard, it was determined that the system of ecological education and upbringing, development and improvement of ecological culture of the population, wide involvement of different layers of the society in the solution of ecological problems, including ecological knowledge, are the main tasks in the given sphere. For this purpose, the Republic of Uzbekistan focuses on the development and improvement of the education system for sustainable ecological education and sustainable development [6].
Environmental education and education of students includes the development and deepening of natural science knowledge about the relationship between society and nature, the formation of value attitudes towards society and nature, the development of an active life position in caring for and protecting the environment, ecological beliefs and responsibility. In the process of environmental education, students should be convinced that the results of human activity depend on the person himself, on his knowledge, on the ability to foresee these results and consequences.
B. T. Likhachev conventionally divides the methods and forms of environmental education into several groups. These are: school and out-of-school methods of forming consciousness and developing thinking, learning the skills and abilities of practically directed activities, developing moral and legal responsibility, aesthetic attitude to reality, moral self-improvement [7].
Ecological education and upbringing is the basis of the ecological well-being of society and represents a special developing system of natural and social knowledge that uses the achievements of many sciences. Traction to the beauty of nature — the natural need of man, especially children. And if we want our children to grow up not as consumers, but as responsible people, good citizens, now is the time to take care of this and do everything possible for their full-fledged environmental education and training. Consequently, environmental education and upbringing is an area of purposeful pedagogical activity designed to change the qualitative parameters of the attitude of a person and society to the environment.
The ecological crisis, in which our planet is now, is the result of not only population growth, but also a crisis of consciousness. Mankind on the long road of its development not only did not achieve happiness, but also lost the opportunity to live in harmony with nature and with itself. If most of the time of the twentieth century. passed under the flag of euphoria from technological success, but now the man realized that he was a child of nature, and not its owner and ruler; the very possibility of human life on the planet is ensured by the coordinated life activity of all biological species established in the biosphere over the millennia. At the moment, to overcome the environmental crisis and successfully solve the environmental problems that have arisen, a transition to a new doctrine of ecologization of the entire educational process at any level, i.e., to an ecologically oriented civilization, is necessary. And for this we need a new system of knowledge, built on a single theoretical basis. Environmental education should be an integral priority part of the training of any specialist in the field of management, economics, technology, medicine, natural sciences and humanities. In practical terms, it is important to recommend a series of steps to «preserve» or restore the «environment» and, above all:
− pay more attention to the development of methods of rational use, protection and reproduction of environmental resources that have degraded under the influence of man;
− to expand the study of issues of changing the relationship of economic processes and ecological systems;
− more actively apply modern sophisticated risk assessment methods to provide the necessary information for managers involved in investment and the use of resources;
− create expert systems that can provide officials with prompt access to specific information based on the huge amount of already accumulated environmental research data [8], etc.
Here we should remember one of the aphorisms, which owes its appearance to the era of the scientific and technological revolution, which claims that the gain may not be the country where the discovery was made, but the one that applied it first. Conventionally, this can be attributed to the environmental education and enlightenment of today's Russia. In accordance with the modern environmental doctrine of the Russian Federation, environmental education, education and awareness are recognized as one of the means of implementing the state environmental policy of our country. And it is environmental education and enlightenment that should help all young people, and tomorrow's specialists realize the global importance of environmental problems and more actively implement the acquired environmental knowledge.
References:
- Каримов И. А. Ўзбекистон ХХI аср бўсағасида: хавфсизликка таҳдид, барқарорлик шартлари ва тараққиёт кафолатлари. Т.: Ўзбекистон, 1997, 113-б.
- Петров В. В. Экологическое право России. М., 1997. — С. 28–33.
- Нигматов А. Н., Шивалдова А. Н., Султанов Р. Н. Экологические аспекты в концепции устойчивого развития. — Т., 2003. — С. 99.
- World Comission on Environment and Dewelopment (1987). Our common future Oxford university Press, Oxford.
- 2008–2012 йилларда Ўзбекистон Республикасининг атроф-муҳитни муҳофаза қилиш ишлари дастури (norma.uz).
- "Ўзбекистон Республикаси қонун ҳужжатлари тўплами», 2008 йил, 37–38-сон.
- Зверев И. Д. Экогласность и образование / И. Д. Зверев // Советская педагогика. -1991. — № 1. — С.9–11.
- Макар С. В. Основы экономики природопользования. — М.: 1998.
