Introduction

Since the decade of the 1970s, we have observed that treatment of the environmental problematic was installed in the international agenda, although it was addressed by focusing in virtue of two processes that are intimately linked: the growing deterioration and exhaustion of natural resources, and the expansion of socio-environmental conflicts.

Within this context, at the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment celebrated in Stockholm in 1972, it was observed that the environmental issue took on importance and became institutionalized in global political spheres. The undeniable and unavoidable phenomenon of globalization favored for there to be a greater understanding of environmental conflicts, as is the case with climate change, while the Kyoto Protocol established the principle of “common responsibilities, although differentiated” for the different countries of the world. For this reason, it was fostered for leaders of all countries of the world to meet, to set conditions, and among all to improve the global economic, environmental and social situation, tending to balance all countries in the world relatively (^{Minaverry, 2013}).

At the end of the 20^th century, and at the beginning of the 21^st century, the “environmental issue” gave place to the development of the following United Nations conferences: Rio de Janeiro in 1992, where the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) agreed upon the Rio Declaration; the Johannesburg Earth Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, where the Action Plan and the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development were signed; and, more recently, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development “Rio+20” celebrated in 2012, where Resolution 66/288 was signed, The future we want. In this way, these international agreements have committed efforts from the signing States that tend to protect the environment, mitigate the impacts and/or remedy the damage caused through the sanction of legal norms.

Along with the events mentioned, environmental law has been shaped and consolidated in Argentina as an autonomous discipline, independent of other legal branches, and which “has the aim of studying the relationships of man with nature, insofar as it allows establishing this relationship clearly in the action of man on the environment, in terms of his anthropic activities of modification of his environment in the interest of satisfying his own needs for food, housing and development” (^{Pigretti, 2000}). This definition clearly poses an anthropocentric approach while a good is worth insomuch as it serves man, without recognizing a value of “non-use” (^{Laterra et al., 2011}). This conception has already been surpassed by others that visualize ecosystems as a whole and not just with the aim of providing benefits to human beings through the mere use of their natural resources. Currently, there is a tendency to implement a systemic and integral environmental legal protection, as is the case of the recognition of the existence of environmental services in the national law of minimal budgets for the protection of native forests N° 26.331 of Argentina.

At the local level, the constitutional recognition of the environmental paradigm in 1994 consolidated “sustainable development” as one of its basic principles and agreed upon the obligation of passing the necessary laws for the protection of natural resources. The first paragraph of Article 41 of Argentina’s National Constitution establishes the following:

“All inhabitants have the right to a healthy, balanced environment, apt for human development and for productive activities to satisfy the needs present without compromising those of future generations, and have the duty to preserve it. Environmental damage will generate principally the obligation of repairing, according to law.”

In turn, Environmental Education can be defined as the redirection and articulation of various educational disciplines and experiences that ease the integrated perception of the environment, making a more rational action possible and capable of responding to social needs. It has the main objective of transmitting knowledge, forming values, and developing competencies and behaviors that can favor the understanding and solution of environmental problems (^{Giuffré, 2004}).

Environmental education has already been recognized and integrated into various local legal regulations, as is the case of article 200³ of the Constitution of the Province of Buenos Aires, in articles 14 and 15 of the general environmental law N° 25.676⁴, and in article 5 of the integral law of the environment in the Province of Buenos Aires N° 11.723⁵.

Likewise, the contribution of Social Responsibility implies the continuous commitment of an organization to behave in an ethical manner, and to collaborate with economic development and with the improvement of the community’s quality of life. Also, it attempts to ensure that all organizations comply fully with their values (which must be established and exposed publicly), so that they can be applied in relation to all the social actors.

However, all of this must be articulated within the context of an agricultural country that depends on the extraction of its natural resources (as is the case of Argentina), where the agrifood and industrial sectors play a fundamental role in the economic scenario, the same as in projections regarding demographic growth, sustainability of cities, and in relation to poverty reduction.

The Strategic Agrifood and Agroindustrial Participative and Federal Plan 2010-2020 (Plan Estratégico Agroalimentario y Agroindustrial Participativo y Federal 2010-2020), (Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca, s/f⁶) has the objective of increasing production and adding value at origin to ensure dietary sovereignty and increase the external sales, committing all the relevant actors of the agrifood or agroindustrial sector (^{Minaverry and Gally, 2014}). To fulfill this plan, products with added value should be obtained, which ought to be obtained through the application of an approach derived from the implementation of interdisciplinary work.

In turn, the National Institute of Agricultural and Livestock Technology (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria) establishes that agricultural and livestock, forestry, and agroindustrial enterprises are inserted in a geographic territory, characterized by a base of specific natural resources, local identity (history and culture) where social, institutional and organizational relationships make up a socio-institutional fabric or framework (Consejo Profesional Ingeniería Agronómica, 2014). In this context, it can be observed clearly that social problems have been incorporated into the scope of Argentinian agricultural and livestock production.

Analyzing these postures linked to the productive approach, it is possible to surmise that currently there is reference not only to the management of technical issues, but that the social problematic has also been included within the scope of the work of professionals in charge of decision making. Likewise, some authors have established that graduate studies in environmental matters are focused on four lines: environmental and ecological monitoring and analysis, planning. Graduate studies, engineering and bachelor’s degrees are focused primarily on earth sciences, complemented with some courses in administration or environmental policy, and a few approach economics, sociology or anthropology (^{Carrizosa, 2007}).

The objective of this study is to expose the central aspects described by a selection of international instruments, whose contents justify the incorporation of “environmental education” into the programs of university careers, especially those linked to the productive area, as is the case of engineering branches.

Our working hypothesis is based on the idea that all concepts that are derived from such instruments (about sustainability, clean production and environmental education) are fundamental to achieve an integral training of professionals. In this sense, graduates from university careers and graduate studies who are linked with these areas are habitually in charge of implementing a series of productive processes, whose execution involves various decisions in relation to the application of sustainable or unsustainable practices.

Methodology and Justification of the Study

This is research of an exploratory nature; its structure is bibliographic-documental and descriptive, and the methodology used is qualitative. Various sources and data collection techniques have been used and academic studies, statistical information, legal sources, official and public materials were consulted. The hermeneutics of normative texts and public documents has been used as analysis technique.

The temporal scope selected for the analysis of international instruments and voluntary and mandatory regulations covers from 1972 until today, since in that year the Stockholm Declaration was made within the sphere of the United Nations Conference for the Human Environment, establishing the direct responsibility of man in relation to the state in which the environment is found.

The main justification for the elaboration of this study lies in that a lack of training and environmental education has been detected in local communities and, especially, in students of degree careers (university levels and linked to the productive area). This has been one of the greatest weaknesses detected at the national level and it has been seen in the teaching sphere for degree and graduate studies of public and private universities in Argentina during the period of ten years (2007-2017).

This reality makes the comprehension of global aspects of the courses taught in the careers of Agronomic Engineering (Integrated management of pests) difficult, as well as in master’s programs in quality engineering and specializations about hygiene, safety and environmental protection regarding which information will be provided directly from the authors.

The students that attend these careers present different academic training, since they are interdisciplinary groups, mostly engineers, who ignore relevant aspects connected to environmental education and law, and to Social Responsibility. This situation, along with the low budget allotted to environmental education by public authorities, has maximized the problematic to the point where students ignore the central guidelines and existence of relevant and current regulations (as is the case of the national law for dangerous wastes N° 24.051, which has a legal penalizing regime), and which could gravely affect them personally.

Results and Discussion

The contribution of voluntary regulations: Social Responsibility

The regulations and ISO guides describe a methodology that tends to the continuous improvement of processes to increase the performance of the organization and to benefit the parts interested. These are voluntary and certifiable regulations (except in the case of the ISO 26,000 guide), which ensure a real control by a recognized third part and serve to clearly identify the processes, problems and to provide the opportunities for improvement when detecting non-conformities and to lead in the way of acting.

Figure 1 will try to explain, only informatively, how sustainable productions are related to quality management (^{Gally and Giachino, 2014}).

Source: ^{Gally T., Giachino, M. V., 2014}.

Figure 1 Aspects of sustainable production. 

In Argentina there are scarce mandatory regulations that center their attention in the respect of ethical matters and there are also legal lapses in the regulation of control mechanisms for public actions (^{Minaverry y Gally, 2013}). Then, in relation to the current and mandatory regulations for our country and which are linked to Social Responsibility, we can state that these have not incorporated yet all the fundamental concepts of voluntary regulations highlighted in the study. In this sense, at the national level the following laws can be mentioned: N° 24,127 (National Quality Award), N° 25,855 (Social Voluntary Work), and article 25 of Law N° 25,877 (Social Balance), which partially regulate some aspects linked to social responsibility. Likewise, in the sphere of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires there are regulations with similar concepts.

In turn, it should be highlighted that Argentina has ratified various international instruments and which, according to our legal system, these have been incorporated as internal regulations through the dictates of national laws. This is the case of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Pact of Civil and Political Rights, the International Pact of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, among others. Through the analysis of the current ISO 26,000 guide various contact points can be detected with the foundations and principles of these international instruments.

For the case of Social Responsibility, the points 6.5.4.1 and 6.5.4.2 refer to the sustainable use of natural resources, the actions and the expectations linked directly to the theme of this study. This norm was published in the month of November 2010 and covers in its totality the three areas on which “Sustainable Development” focuses (^{Minaverry, López and Gally, 2012}).

Point 6.8.4., called issue 2, about active participation and community development: education and culture, suggests that education and culture constitute the basis of social and economic development, and are part of the community identity. The preservation and promotion of a culture and of education taking into account the fulfillment of human rights can have a positive impact promoting social cohesion and development. In addition, an organization should promote and support education at all levels and become involved in actions that improve the quality and access to it, and in turn, promote local knowledge.

Point 6.8.5., called issue 3, about active participation and community development: creation of employment and development of abilities, establishes that with the creation of employment all the organizations can make a contribution to poverty reduction and to the promotion of economic and social development. The development of abilities is an essential component of the promotion of employment and of support to people to ensure decent and productive jobs.

Point 6.8.6., called issue 4, about active participation and community development: development and access to technology, states that “organizations can contribute to the development of the communities in which they operate applying knowledge, abilities and specialized technologies, in a manner that promotes the development of human resources and the diffusion of technology.” Access to information is something key to overcome the disparities present between countries, regions, generations, genders, among others.

Point 6.8.9., called issue 7, about active participation and community development, establishes that “social investment appears when organizations invest in initiatives and programs directed at improving social aspects of life in the community. The types of social investments could include projects related to education, training, culture, health care, income generation, among other issues.

Then, point 6.5.1.2 establishes that environmental responsibility turns out to be prior to the survival and prosperity of human beings. It refers specifically to “environmental education” and to the fact that creating capacity is fundamental to promote the development of societies and sustainable lifestyles. This is based on the fact that there are currently various environmental challenges (such as climate change), which will need to be faced by trained citizens with an approach directed at integral environmental protection.

In this sense, organizations should also promote the active participation of the community in the design and the implementation of projects, since this entails potentiating synergies in structural terms and also those that can tend to the interrelation between productive and non-productive activities (links between agriculture, industry and services).

It is important to highlight that in previous studies it has been determined, through the analysis of current environmental legal texts and the same guide ISO 26,000, that the latter adopted various principles included in the Argentinian mandatory environmental laws that had already been dictated before (^{Minaverry, Gally and Pantuso, 2016}).

Conclusions

Throughout this study, the basic guidelines linked to sustainability have been analyzed and extracted, as well as those to achieve a cleaner production, and with the promotion of environmental education, which appeared in a series of international instruments, in a voluntary guide on Social Responsibility, and in current mandatory regulations in Argentina. In this sense, we can establish that in order to favor an education that incorporates these concepts it would be convenient to modify some curricular structures and to highlight the socio-environmental dimension, the interdisciplinary approach, and the strengthening of inter-institutional relations to be able to transmit the concepts correctly.

This is based on the fact that environmental education is the only one capable of building collective awareness about the value of the environment and the need to take care of it and recover it (^{Mathus Escorihuela, 2011}). This refers to a qualitative jump with regards to training, since it is centers on the moral dimension of the human being, that is , it implies implementation (behavior) of what is conceptually appreciated and considered valuable according to the global idea of life there is (^{García, 2010}).

The generation of interdisciplinary knowledge turns out to be a fundamental approach and provides a solid support for the development of sustainable policies, frameworks applicable to Social and Environmental Responsibility, and for the social awareness directed at sustainability (^{Capaldo, 2014}). For this purpose, it is necessary to recreate conditions of the environment with adequate incentives, public policies in the long term, and to generate effective alliances between the different social actors. This implies radical changes in governance structures, economic frameworks, business models, and in behavior patterns of the consumers and society at large.

A more prosperous future depends on the new paradigm of linking commercial activities and development, promoting social, environmental and economic stability. With the aim of addressing this problematic, taking into account the growing interdependence pointed out, it is recognized as equally important to strengthen the national and international policies and international cooperation as an adaptation tool to the new global circumstances (^{Romano, 2014}).

Likewise, it is considered fundamental to understand the voluntary regulations on Social Responsibility, since these can cover some legal lapses, or else, complement the regulations. All of this could be the result of the scarce valuation of ecosystems as a whole and the lack of incorporation of the precautionary principle in the current legal system.

Finally, and as had been highlighted, Social Responsibility is linked to the Law and shares the same principles that international instruments have on human rights and environmental protection. It is suggested to comply with the mandatory regulations, although socially responsible development implies becoming actively involved with the community at large surpassing the legal demands. However, for this to be possible there should be people trained in the socio-environmental problematic and who have been educated in this, preferably since the initial levels.