Improving Public Participation through Environmental Education for the Attainment of Sustainable and Resilient Rural Communities.

The paper aim to critically examine issues of environmental education and its significance to environmental sustainability, with key emphasis on identifying its critical importance in promoting public participation in environmental control regimes. Literature related to this topic was reviewed. The study was undertaken in seven (7) selected communities within the Diebu creek oilfield, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. Primary data was collected through survey instrument; a questionnaire was retrieved from 220 respondents selected through the simple random sampling technique. Data were subjected to both descriptive and statistical analyses. The results of the descriptive analyses revealed low level of participation. 73℅ of respondents were unaware of extant environmental laws, and consequences of their harmful activities, while 24% were aware, but cited illiteracy, income level, and occupation as reasons for engaging in such harmful activities. Results also revealed that 81% of respondents indicated willingness to participate in environmental control programmes. Results of statistical analysis showed that F-ratio calculated 0.617 was greater than tabulated value of 0.381 at significant 0.005; suggesting that there was significant relationship between participation in environment control and level of education. Following the research findings, we suggest that Government at all levels should encourage public participation; enshrine environmental education into the primary and secondary schools curriculum, boast the non-formal environmental education sub-sector; organise awareness campaigns with aim to educate rural dwellers to actively participate and make valuable contribution to the efforts towards attaining sustainable and resilient communities.