A severe limitation to bridging communities and ecosystems is the complexity of the language used to explain intricate ecological processes and scientific concepts. For people outside sciences, complex concepts can result in confusion and consequently disconnect them from ecosystems. A poor understanding of ecological processes has a negative impact in the way people perceive and value nature. A main obstacle to solve in this disconnection is the lack of a methodology that can integrate science and ethics into outreach and education programs. Despite the incorporation of socioecological factors into ecological research in recent decades, there is still a serious limitation to foster cultural transformation due to such lack of integration. To solve this limitation, at the Omora Park, we have developed a methodological approach that we call “field environmental philosophy” (FEP).
FEP’s methodology can enhance and complement outreach and education in Protected Areas around the world. FEP integrates ecological research and environmental ethics into biocultural education and conservation practices with a 4step cycle, which can be applicable in most protected areas. Here we present the main results achieved by students who have participated in FEP courses at Omora Park, Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, Chile, between 2015 and 2019.
Results/Conclusions
In five field courses conducted at Omora Park during the study period, students focused mostly on poetic communication and composition of metaphors through analogical thinking, and the implementation of scientific, philosophical and artistic interpretive signs in conservation areas. These two activities are part of FEP’s 4-step cycle that prepare students to engage with communities. Metaphors and signs are created by interdisciplinary teams of students, guided by faculty, and include participation of local students and other members of local community when possible. These practices have allowed students to better understand and integrate interrelated biophysical and cultural dimensions into biocultural conservation. Students have applied this understanding into outreach and environmental education programs, including ecotourism. This was accomplished by creating biocultural (ecological, socioecological) narratives, including drawing of interpretive signs implemented at Omora Park. For example, the metaphors of the “Energy spiral” (depicting the flow of energy and nutrients, food chains and biogeochemical fluxes), and the analogy between a watershed and the storyline of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” represent poetic ways of explaining the roles played by different “characters” in the river ecosystem’s “play”. Metaphor composition and signage creation engage international students with local communities, and generate novel ways to understand and explain complex socio-ecological processes.