31 Why did RCE Porto Embrace the Social Capital Improvement Approach? As reported by the PMA-ESP there is a need for more and better collaboration, public awareness and participation opportunities in the region if the main environmental challenges are to be solved (GEA, 2006; GEA, 2008). The SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis conducted during the study evidenced several weaknesses, such as the lack of human and financial resources, the nonexistence of collaboration and synergies between organisations and, often, competition for the same resources (including the school community that reported being overwhelmed with dozens of distinct projects each year), fragile public participation, and the general absence of project continuity (and no evaluation or feedback efforts). Strengths in the region include the large number of organisations enrolled in education for sustainable development (ESD) initiatives and the abundance of non-financial resources in these organisations. This regional scenario led to the creation of RCE Porto and the start of an expansion and social capital improvement process, as introduced by Putnam (1993), particularly in the creation of social networks that facilitate coordinated action and cooperation (with knowledge, trust and resources) that help move towards sustainability by overcoming the dilemmas of collective action. This ‘human dimension’ of sustainability has increased in significance over recent years, shifting the core of sustainability from goal attainment to a social learning process (Tàbara and Pahl-Wostl, 2007). Social learning implies a change in understanding of the individuals involved, goes beyond the individual, becomes situated within wider social units and occurs through social interactions and processes between actors within a social network (Reed et al, 2010). 2
Traditional Knowledge and Biodiversity
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