Biodiversity Conservation through Environmental Education for Sustainable Development - A Case Study from Puducherry, India

Promoting students commitment to protect local biodiversity is an important goal of
education for sustainable development in India and elsewhere. The main focus of the biodiversity education was to create knowledge, interest and necessary skills to solve various biodiversity problems with reference to the local context. In order to develop the biodiversity consciousness among students, the action oriented biodiversity education methods were identified in this study such as active classroom sessions, hands-onactivities, experiential education, and field exposures that are vital to achieve sustainable biodiversity knowledge and motivate to protect and conserve local biodiversity. We developed a comprehensive framework to assess the efficacy of biodiversity education modules in enhancing teaching and training in biodiversity conservation at high school level. Since the pre-test indicated little lesser than average interest in the relevance of biodiversity, the observed increase in post-test phase could be attributed to our education for sustainable development efforts.