Anecdotal evidence suggests that although domestic participation is remaining fairly constant, international participation in environmental conferences in Asia may be declining. This study begins the task of identification and analysis of barriers for participation at environmental education conferences within participants’ domestic environmental education societies, as well as their participation among other societies’ conferences.

  A survey, translated into the native language of each participating society, was distributed to their members to be anonymously completed via the web service Survey Monkey. A total of 166 viable responses were returned. Data were analyzed within and among societies to identify trends in participation and barriers that tend to prevent or limit participation in their own and other societies’ conferences. Findings indicate that for international participation, the overall top barrier is financial consideration, with, in order of importance, a lack of time, competing obligations, and the language barrier all showing as important but to a lesser degree.

  The COVID-19 pandemic is playing a factor in conference participation. Over 28% of participants indicated that their research has been greatly affected or stopped due to the pandemic. Based on survey responses, international participation at future environmental education conferences is greatly affected through 2022 and then moderately affected through at least 2025. Domestic participation follows a similar pattern with participation being greatly affected through 2021 and then moderately affected moving through 2023. Virtual conferences are serving as an alternative to in-person conferences. Survey participants indicated that over 90% are open to attending virtually, both international and domestic, as long as the time zone differences and registration fees are reasonable.

Developing and establishing learning among community members can be identified as Place-Based Education (PBE), a pro-sustainable educational approach defined as the process of using the local community and environment as the pedagogy for developing commitment to local places and local stakeholders (Sobel, 2004). This study focuses on efforts by residents to promote Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) as a case study and it contributes to the discussion on the role of PBE in strengthening community resilience.

  The case study site, Neshinden District in Nakazuma-cho, Joso City, is a low-lying area that stretches along the left bank of the Kinugawa River that is the site of many houses flooded above floor level during a 2015 flood. In April 2018, the Neshinden neighborhood association formed a voluntary disaster-prevention organization to foster a more disaster-resilient town.

  Although we found a need for further activities, such as passing on the memories of disasters and making residents more aware of the vulnerability of the residential areas, this relatively new neighborhood successfully nurtured spontaneous risk communication and learning activities. The experience suggested that the role of resilience education, a type of PBE, is invigorating community resilience with intersectional and intergenerational communication by fostering residents’ interest in DRR.

To promote sustainability transition, it is important to design educational programs to encourage environmental civic action (ECA). In this study, we conducted online surveys in Japan and Thailand to identify the commonalities and differences in the influential factors on ECA between the two countries. We also discussed effective programs to promote ECA based on an analysis of the surveys. Thai respondents showed higher behavioral intention toward ECA than that of the Japanese respondents, and there were large differences between the two countries in the respondents’ prior experiences with civic actions and their level of satisfaction with past civic actions. We also found that respondents from both countries who were dissatisfied with their past civic actions showed less motivation toward future civic actions. Thus, we suggest both countries that project-based learning in collaboration with the local community would be an effective means to develop civic capacity because these programs include actual ECA practices. It is also important to design programs in which learners can tangibly feel the effects of their activities.

Connection with nature (CWN) is a promising research focus in environmental education. Previous research has repeatedly indicated that CWN was an important predictor of pro-environmental behaviors. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to understand the difference of Taiwanese and Japanese undergraduates’ CWN and most importantly to compare the predictive power of CWN and the new ecological paradigm (NEP) in terms of explaining the intention of environmental behaviors (IEB) in both countries. This survey adopted one Taiwanese CWN scale to avoid possible measurement bias caused by eastern-western cultural contexts. A total of 302 undergraduates participated in this survey: 178 students were from 3 Taiwanese universities, and 124 were from 2 Japanese universities. The independent sample t-test showed that Taiwanese undergraduates significantly performed more actively in CWN, NEP, and IEB than Japanese undergraduates. The overall findings of multiple regression analysis indicated that CWN was a more powerful predictor than the NEP to predict the IEBs in both countries, and the regression coefficient of CWN in Taiwan was higher than in Japan. Although the NEP can significantly predict some IEB constructs in Taiwan, it was not a significant predictor in Japan. Based on those findings, this research also proposed possible directions for future research.

Visuals are deployed in textbooks, including in those used for Environmental Education (EE) instruction in India, Japan, and Mexico, to perform various pedagogical functions that are not evident at first glance. Formal EE today engages with students in developing necessary skills, favourable attitudes, and capacities for participation, which are essential for Sustainable Development. The main question for this inquiry was, “What role do visuals play in achieving the objectives of EE?” We analysed Grade VI Science textbooks which revealed that all the five objectives of EE—1. Awareness 2. Knowledge 3. Attitude 4. Skills and 5. Participation— were fulfilled by text-visual segments, variously in the three textbooks, with visuals serving one or more of the following functions, if not all— Evocation, Definition, Application, Description, and Interpretation. However, a more in-depth research and discussion are required to generate EE-specific functionalities. As environmental challenges range from local to global with a universal context, visuals in EE textbooks can serve as an efficient medium to add depth, complexity, and abstraction (of various environmental challenges) as well as support image-mediated learning processes in school educational contexts.