Category Archives: environmental stewardship

New paper: Assessing Children’s Stewardship Competence Development from a Transformative Learning Intervention

Posted on by
Reply
Picture comes from the school greening programmes in Kasese, Uganda, supported by the Intl. Tree Foundation (note: this program was not studies in the research referred to in this post)

This weekend (11/12 July, 2026) the third study led by Dr. Doreen Misanya was published in the Journal for Education for Sustainable Development (JESD).

The study finds that environmental stewardship necessitates collective action from all stakeholders, yet children are often alienated. This third publication from Doreen´s dissertation conducted through Wageningen University, investigated the contribution of an environmental education programme, based on the participatory integrated planning approach, to developing stewardship competence attributes of pupils in rural Ugandan schools. Pupils (34) participated through surveys, semi-structured interviews, observations and focus group discussions.

Findings indicated that pupils developed competence attributes in interrelated dimensions of environmental knowledge, connection with nature and ecological behaviour. The development of attributes was influenced by the learning environment, learning content, facilitation approach, learning activities, participatory integrated planning visioning and action-planning tools, learning activities, learning materials and facilitator capacity. Competence attributes are necessary for children’s participation in stewardship. These attributes should be developed simultaneously by exposing children to context-specific/relevant learning content, nature-based/outdoor activities and methods that stimulate reflection, participation and collaboration. Education policies should integrate environmental with formal curricula to enhance pupils’ environmental awareness and participation in stewardship.

THe full citation is: Misanya, D., Tassone, V. C., Kessler, A., & Wals, A. E. J. (2026). Children as Environmental Stewards: Assessing Children’s Stewardship Competence Development from a Transformative Learning Intervention. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 0(0).

The link to the article is here

Creating LivingLabs for Nature-Based Solutions – ENABLS Takes Off

Posted on by
Reply

We are about to end the first year of an EU-funded project on developing LivingLabs for Nature-Based Solutions and will soon ‘implement’ / unfold 7 LivingLabs in the participating countries. Below some basic information that you can also find on the ENABLS Website. Together with Mieke de Wit, ouise van der Stok and Lian Kasper, I am representing Education & Learning Sciences of Wageningen University in this major project.

ENABLS is also on LinkedIn and Instagram

New Open Access Paper: River Co-Learning Arenas: principles and practices for transdisciplinary knowledge co-creation and multi-scalar (inter)action

Posted on by
Reply

This collaborative multi-authored paper develops the methodological concept of river co-learning arenas (RCAs) and explores their potential to strengthen innovative grassroots river initiatives, enliven river commons, regenerate river ecologies, and foster greater socio-ecological justice. The integrity of river systems has been threatened in profound ways over the last century. Pollution, damming, canalisation, and water grabbing are some examples of pressures threatening the entwined lifeworlds of human and non-human communities that depend on riverine systems. Finding ways to reverse the trends of environmental degradation demands complex spatial–temporal, political, and institutional articulations across different levels of governance (from local to global) and among a plurality of actors who operate from diverse spheres of knowledge and systems of practice, and who have distinct capacities to affect decision-making. In this context, grassroots river initiatives worldwide use new multi-actor and multi-level dialogue arenas to develop proposals for river regeneration and promote social-ecological justice in opposition to dominant technocratic-hydraulic development strategies. This paper conceptualises these spaces of dialogue and action as RCAs and critically reflects on ways of organising and supporting RCAs while facilitating their cross-fertilisation in transdisciplinary practice. By integrating studies, debates, and theories from diverse disciplines, we generate multi-faceted insights and present cornerstones for the engagement with and/or enaction of RCAs. This encompasses five main themes central to RCAs: (1) River knowledge encounters and truth regimes, (2) transgressive co-learning, (3) confrontation and collaboration dynamics, (4) ongoing reflexivity, (5) transcultural knowledge assemblages and translocal bridging of rooted knowledge.

Citation:

De Souza, D. T., Hommes, L., Wals, A., Hoogesteger, J., Boelens, R., Duarte-Abadía, B., … Joy, K. J. (2024). River co-learning arenas: principles and practices for transdisciplinary knowledge co-creation and multi-scalar (inter)action. Local Environment, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2024.2428215

The full paper can be downloaded here!

New book on 50 years of Education and Learning for Sustainable Futures

Posted on by
1

We are pleased to share with you the publication of our new book, Education and Learning for Sustainable Futures: 50 years of learning and environmental change. This book explores fundamental questions about how the role of education has evolved over the decades since the pivotal 1972 Stockholm Conference, which brought environmental learning to the forefront of global awareness.

Co-authors, Daniella Tilbury and Thomas Macintyre and myself, have attempted to find some answers by tracking through the decades (1970-2020) the development of narratives, thinking, and practice of learning and education in support of the environment and sustainability. What is clear is that the profile and presence of learning and education for the environment has been elevated in today’s policy discourses and communities of practice. Yet, our analysis identified some clear differences in the way education and learning for the environment has been approached over time. 

In our new book, we trace these changes over the decades while looking ahead to the challenges and opportunities of the future.  A key wildcard in this journey is Artificial Intelligence (AI), which holds immense potential to bridge digital and green agendas, enabling smarter environmental management and driving innovation toward a sustainable future. However, we also address critical concerns: data privacy breaches, outsourcing human thinking to profit-driven algorithms, exacerbation of inequalities, and the environmental footprint of AI infrastructure.

This book provides a light way into the history, developments and prospects of the field of Environmental and Sustainability Education.

Full reference:

Macintyre, T., Tilbury, D., & Wals, A. (2024). Education and Learning for Sustainable Futures: 50 Years of Learning for Environment and Change (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003467007

Wish to read more? Our book is open access thanks to the funding of the Dutch Government that funded this publication: https://www.routledge.com/Education-and-Learning-for-Sustainable-Futures-50-Years-of-Learning-for-Environment-and-Change/Macintyre-Tilbury-Wals/p/book/9781032727912

Our thanks also go to Stakeholder Forum and to @JanGustav for his leadership role in the Stockholm+50 reflective dialogues, and to UNEP/ the Swedish Government for spurring us on to track the historical development of education and learning for the environment. We are also grateful to @Routledge for taking an interest in publishing the text.

Competences for socio-ecological stewardship: a qualitative assessment of the transformative potential of farmers’ learning processes in Eastern Uganda

Posted on by
Reply

A new paper reporting on a study led by PhD-Candidate Doreen Misanya was published today in the Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension. The paper titled ´Competences for socio-ecological stewardship: a qualitative assessment of the transformative potential of farmers’ learning processes in Eastern Uganda´, identifies socio-ecological stewardship competences that smallholder farmers in the Manafwa watershed in Eastern Uganda, developed by participating in a project founded on the Participatory Integrated Planning approach (PIP – see image above).

The study identified socio-ecological stewardship competences comprising different sustainability-related dimensions including: ‘environmental knowledge’ as environmental systems, action-related, effectiveness, social, and ethical knowledge; ‘connection with nature’ as establishing an identity with nature, appreciating the value of nature, social, and ethical attitudes; and ‘ecological behaviour’ as conservation and restoration, social, and ethical actions.The study also shows that Competence dimensions are interconnected thus requiring learning environments that develop them simultaneously. Additionally, social and ethical competences are relevant for supporting stewardship action.

Theoretically, this study expands Roczen’s environmental competence model by including social, ethical, and conservation and restoration action competences. This study is one of the first to identify socio-ecological stewardship competences and the learning processes that can foster these competences.

Full citation:

Misanya, D., Tassone, V. C., Kessler, A., Wals, A. E. J., & Kibwika, P. (2024). Competences for socio-ecological stewardship: a qualitative assessment of the transformative potential of farmers’ learning processes in Eastern Uganda. The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/1389224X.2024.2403597