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

Key findings from this study

• The study found that integrating local perceptions of forest value and risk generates essential knowledge for designing contextually appropriate sustainable management approaches.
• The authors report that constructivist pedagogies employing experiential landscape engagement develop both critical understanding of socio-ecological risk and practical management competencies.
• The research demonstrates that forest-based education creates conditions for young people to become advocates and actors for environmental change within their specific socio-cultural contexts.

Overview

Forest-based education in Australia, Nepal, and Switzerland demonstrates that integrating local socio-ecological risk perceptions into environmental pedagogy builds critical knowledge about sustainable forest management. Young people require both environmental literacy and analytical capacity to engage with global environmental change. The research identifies constructivist approaches as effective mechanisms for developing understanding of how biodiverse forested landscapes sustain themselves within specific socio-cultural contexts.

Methods and approach

The authors examined forest education initiatives across three geographic contexts to identify how local value and risk perceptions inform sustainable management conceptions. Constructivist pedagogies structured experiential learning through walks, rides, explorations, monitoring activities, and comparative analysis of management approaches. This framework enabled educators to systematically identify and examine competing understandings of forest sustainability held by different stakeholder groups.

Results

Forest-based learning environments successfully generated critical knowledge about socio-ecological risk while developing practical management skills. Local perceptions of forest value and associated risks proved essential for designing contextually appropriate sustainability approaches. Engagement with multiple conceptions of sustainable management through direct landscape exploration cultivated both analytical understanding and capacity for advocacy among young people.

Implications

Environmental education systems require integration of socio-ecological risk literacy alongside traditional environmental knowledge. This approach acknowledges that global environmental change will produce differentiated impacts across societies, necessitating locally grounded understanding rather than universal prescriptions. Forest ecosystems serve as accessible sites where learners encounter interconnections between ecological, social, and cultural systems while developing critical perspectives on modernity's environmental legacies.
Constructivist pedagogies prove operationally viable for simultaneous achievement of environmental competency and critical thinking. Experiential learning in forests creates conditions where abstract concepts of sustainability become tangible through direct observation and comparative analysis. Such integration positions educational sites as catalysts for developing informed actors capable of navigating complex environmental futures.

Scope and limitations

This summary is based on the study abstract and available metadata. It does not include a full analysis of the complete paper, supplementary materials, or underlying datasets unless explicitly stated. Findings should be interpreted in the context of the original publication.