The growing demand for education on the environment and sustainable development has led the Environment Ministry to implement an educational platform that will extend this knowledge to all those interested in continuing their training. The name selected by the Ministry is the “Academia de Formación Ambiental Adriana Hoffmann” (Adriana Hoffmann Environmental Training Academy).
This initiative was launched from the Cultural Center at La Moneda Palace, and bears the name of the prominent environmentalist and former director of CONAMA, Adriana Hoffmann.
Minister Pablo Badenier explained, “we want the passion for Chile’s natural heritage and the academic and scientific commitment demonstrated by Adriana Hoffmann throughout her career to distinguish this academy. It is designed to promote environmental understanding, care and protection, and accordingly we wish it to bear her name.”
He added, “all the technical capabilities of our Ministry will be available for everyone, not just for teachers, but also through an Advisory Council composed of professionals from the different areas of the Environment Ministry that will work with the Training Academy.”
This academy has been set up to meet the growing interest in education on environmental and sustainable development, so ensuring that modern concepts of environmental protection are taught. This institution provides skills to improve understanding and awareness of environmental problems, and how to address them.
The main objective of Environmental Education is to understand that sustainable development is a process of sustained and equitable improvement in the quality of human life, founded on appropriate measures that conserve and protect the environment, without jeopardizing the expectations of present and future generations.
The Adriana Hoffmann Academy is designed to reach three target audiences: teachers, public officials and the general public. The courses will include e-learning, teacher-led classes, e-learning with tutorials, self-taught e-learning and awareness sessions.
The Academy will also have a Documentation Center and a virtual library for general use.
Adriana Hoffmann Academy
Adriana Hoffmann, is a Chilean biologist and ecologist and the writer and co-author of several books on plants, medicinal plants and promoting native forests. She founded the organization Defensores del Bosque Nativo” (Defenders of the Native Forest).
In 1997 she was recognized by the United Nations as one of twenty five environmental leaders of the decade, and in 1999 she was awarded a National Environmental Prize, for her contribution to the understanding, communication and protection of Chile’s natural heritage through her work and dozens of publications that are now reference texts on this subject.
Between 2000 and 2001 she was a Board member of the National Environmental Commission, which launched the Chile Footpaths project, and analyzed the causes of air pollution in Santiago.