Documentos Orientadores da Educação Ambiental em Países Latino-Americanos: convergências e rupturas com o Bem Viver

Abstract

This research investigates guiding documents on Environmental Education in Brazil, Bolivia, and Ecuador, aiming to understand how the principles of Buen Vivir are incorporated into these documents. Buen Vivir presents itself as an alternative to the capitalist mode of development. It is a principle that values the worldview and culture of Indigenous and original peoples, prioritizing a reciprocal relationship between humans and nature. In the current economic model, however, humans assume a position of superiority and exploit nature within a capitalist and extractivist development model that seeks resources through extraction. The very notion of development adopted by this model prioritizes economic growth at the expense of nature. In Ecuador and Bolivia, Buen Vivir was incorporated into the Constitutional text following a constitutional reform in the late 2000s, which involved a revision of the documents. Chapters related to the rights of Indigenous peoples were included, and for the first time, Nature was granted a specific chapter, outlining its rights. This reformulation is reflected in the guiding documents of Environmental Education, which take on a new framework in alignment with these changes. For the analysis, chapters from the constitutions of the three countries that address the environment, Indigenous peoples, or education were selected. Through Discursive Textual Analysis, meaning units were identified in the documents and subsequently grouped into categories of analysis, resulting in three distinct categories: Hegemonic Integration of Buen Vivir; Sustainability and Buen Vivir: Uncritical Convergence; and Rebellious Buen Vivir. A predominance of the Hegemonic Integration of Buen Vivir category was observed, pointing to the camouflage of predatory capitalist practices under the principles of Buen Vivir. The category Sustainability and Buen Vivir: Uncritical Convergence reveals a fusion of Buen Vivir principles with objectives and visions aligned with the precepts of sustainable development. Lastly, the category Rebellious Buen Vivir presents an emancipatory, grassroots, and above all, transformative Environmental Education. The study concludes that the concept of Buen Vivir emerges as a powerful alternative to the hegemonic vision of progress and development, as it can serve as a guiding principle in redefining society-nature relations. However, it remains a concept under construction and contestation, permeated by different interpretations and appropriations—sometimes reinforcing its transformative potential, sometimes seeking to adapt it to dominant structures, thereby stripping it of its transformative essence. Furthermore, there is an observable reductionism in the worldview of Indigenous peoples, with official documents incorporating only elements that do not threaten the capitalist modus operandi, extractivism, and hegemonic domination. Caution is necessary to ensure that Buen Vivir is not applied in a vague manner or reduced to idealized narratives. Nevertheless, Environmental Education can assume a new configuration as Rebellious Environmental Education, which, when aligned with Indigenous principles and a decolonial perspective, stands as a powerful alternative for plural education—one that challenges developmentalism and seeks a just future for the Global South.