Environmental Education as an Object of Study in Post-graduate Programmes in Tourism in Brazil (period 1997-2011)

Abstract

Environmental Education (EE) is an important tool for the sustainable development of tourism, which is used to educate people on minimizing environmental impacts caused by the use of natural resources in tourist activities. Within this perspective, studies on EA in the Post-graduate Programmes in tourism in Brazil seem to be important and necessary to identify trends and gaps in the process of knowledge production. The aim of this study is to map how Environmental Education is contemplated in knowledge production in the dissertations of those programmes, which are recommended by Capes from 1997 a 2011. This research is exploratory and analyses dissertations which look at environmental education from Capes Theses Repository. The results show that from six Post-Graduate Programmes in Tourism in Brazil, only five dissertations (two from the Master Programme in Tourism and Hospitality of Universidade do Vale do Itajaí and three from the Master Programme in Tourism of Universidade de Caxias do Sul) contemplate environmental education as an object of study.

Keywords

• Turismo. Educação Ambiental. Programas Stricto Sensu em Turismo. Pesquisas em Educação Ambiental.