The role of Ecopedagogy in the development of sustainability responsible students

The question of a pedagogy that promotes the development of sustainability responsible graduate students is at the centre of education for sustainability. Ecopedagogy provides a highly significant contribution to this field as it encourages reflection on the multiple and complex relationship society-nature, engendering a criticism of the current unsustainable socioeconomic model, modern thought and the various forms of exploitation of life. We suggest that Ecopedagogy may foster the development of sustainability competencies, in line with the UNESCO guidance, as it promotes an understanding of the complex interplay of social, environmental and economic drivers of unsustainability issues, and it empowers students to find their agency and co-construct solutions socially and professionally. Ecopedagogy provides theoretical and practical approaches to foster sustainability teaching and inspire educators and learners in a higher education context. Our chapter introduces Ecopedagogy and the ongoing process of reinvention and establishment of new theoretical and practical bases, responding to new challenges in the current time we live, based on qualitative research of bibliographic order. In this chapter we offer a review of the 30 years of Ecopedagogy from its Latin American origins; paths travelled along these years; and the process of reinvention of Ecopedagogy based on three pillars of criticism: patriarchy, modernity and capitalism. This review of Ecopedagogy proposes new approaches for the development of competencies necessary for planetary citizenship, essential for a sustainable future. We discuss the applications of Ecopedagogy in the higher education context and conclude with a set of propositions for a collective journey in view of the principles of Ecopedagogy as a field of academic investigation and social praxis.