Resumo

CAMACHO, Carlos. Environmental education: Historical perspective of knowledge to define and characterize national identity and latin american culture. Educere [online]. 2006, vol.10, n.35, pp.601-610. ISSN 1316-4910.

There is great controversy surrounding the origins of Environmental Education in Venezuela due to the shortage of bibliography on the matter, as well as its importance to define and characterize national identity and Latin American culture. In this sense, this paper aims to interpret existing documents to answer the questions related to its possible origin and influence in the consolidation of Latin American cultures. To write this paper, diferent key documents on Environmental Education were consulted, research papers, legal proceedings and electronic references. The importance of Environmental Education lies in the knowledge bequeathed by conservational education, known today as environmental education, generated from colonial times until today. Among the conclusions, we can highlight: this type of education ofered in Venezuela may have had it origin during the 18th century, with the influence of Simón Rodriguez and his disciple Simón Bolívar. Between them, the conservationist decrees were drafted between 1825 and 1828. During the 20th century, a legal framework is created to channel the process, but at the same time had more political undertones than that of real Environmental Education. The Environmental Education process was written into article 107 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and it is finally proven that Environmental Education defines and characterized national identity and Latin American Culture.

Palavras-chave : Environmental Education; national identity and Latin American culture.