Citizenship and empowerment on an environmental education project from an oil company environmental compensation program in a coastal Brazilian state

• In Event: Formación para la ciudadanía y educación ambiental

Abstract

This essay analyses how a major environmental education project from an oil company environmental compensation program affects 18 artisanal fisherman communities located in 7 municipalities from a coastal state in Brazil. From a political ecology perspective, this work aims to investigate how environmental education efforts are related to issues such as solidary economy, income generation and work opportunities, and environmental licensing in these communities. From this perspective, social participation is debated from an empowerment and scale perspectives, focusing on how the educational process can help these communities to politically mobilize when faced to large polluting companies’ intervention and environmental impact. The methodology is based in a poststructuralist discourse analyses, based on focal groups and interviews. Thereby, an analysis on how a policy-led strategy such as environmental compensation process affects local communities' way of life and their understanding of citizenship is presented under a power and discourse perspective.

Authors

• Augusto C Mozine, Universidade Vila Velha - UVV/ES

• Viviane M Rodrigues