EDUCAÇÃO AMBIENTAL NA ALDEIA INDÍGENA KA’APOR (ZÉ GURUPI): SENSIBILIZAÇÃO E PRÁTICAS SUSTENTÁVEIS

Abstract

This article describes and analyses an environmental education initiative carried out in the Ka’apor indigenous village of Zé Gurupi, in Maranhão, Brazil, involving primary school pupils, students in Adult and Youth Education (EJA), teachers and community leaders. The activity aimed to promote environmental awareness and encourage sustainable practices linked to the local area, the school and community life. The study is characterised as an experience report, using a qualitative approach, systematised on the basis of photographic and audiovisual records and field notes. The intervention was organised into three stages: a lecture-discussion session combined with the practical activity of planting açaí seeds and other species; a diagnostic walk through the village to observe environmental conditions; and a talk with community leaders followed by a collective waste collection effort. The results indicated that the activities fostered a connection between school curriculum, local knowledge and concrete practices of caring for the territory. The presence of the chief and community leaders reinforced the collective, political and cultural dimensions of the initiative. The experience also highlighted that solid waste in indigenous territories cannot be understood merely as a behavioural problem, but as an expression of broader processes of consumption, coloniality, territorial pressure and the unequal introduction of industrialised products into the villages. It is concluded that one-off environmental education initiatives are relevant, but need to be linked to ongoing, intercultural and locally-rooted actions capable of strengthening community autonomy, forest protection and collective responsibility.