The university and the environmental crisis: discourses and debates in Perú

Abstract

The essay analyzes the discourses and debates on the structuring of the environmental isssue in the university and identifies obstacles and opportunities for an environmental reform. The inclusión of the environmental issue is superficial and the social sciences are disconnected from engineering when addressing the environmental. Cross disciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching is complex, basically because of the socio cultural profile of Peruvian society. There is a growing questioning of the legitimacy of the university to generate knowledge, but the opening of the university towards ancestral knowledge constitutes an opportunity to carry out an effective environmental reform. A missing topic in the debate of the university and the environmental crisis is the opening of the university towards other types of knowledge. A country like Perú – by extensión the andean countries – is full of understandings, world views, perspectives and knowledge about the society – nature relationship of at least 5000 years of validity and that the university does not understand the ancestral knowledge, less seek methodological bridges transdisciplinary between formal knowledge and this ancestral knowledge and this ancestral knowledge is a real shame. There is a need for transdisciplinary knowledge not only for the solution of specific prblems such us soil erosion, biodiversity conservation, air quality and solid waste, but also for environmental planning and the design of a sustainable model of the country.