Healthy Parks Healthy People Commission

Social and health benefits of Nature

We can all agree that physical activity and contact with nature is essential for human health, and that ‘Green exercise’ can make a significant and sustained contribution to good physical and mental health and well-being. However, there has been a need to build the evidence base to demonstrate the public health benefits that Protected Areas provide.

EUROPARC has been a leader in this field and has been developing this work further into practical advice for parks managers, including through the publication of a toolkit.

EUROPARC started building this evidence through Health and Protected Areas Working Group first and a Commission afterwards. Since 2017, the group compiled a suite of case studies from the EUROPARC network to demonstrate the important work that Protected Areas are doing in the field of health. Case studies show the work that Protected Areas and agencies in Europe have been undertaking in different health policy areas and demonstrate the significant contribution that parks make to human health and well-being through the development of policy or the delivery of projects and programmes.

If you wish to submit your case study, please click here

Members

  • Chair, Pete Rawcliffe | Head of the People and Places Activity, NatureScot
  • Carles Castell Puig, Diputació Barcelona
  • Nele Sober, Estonian Environmental Board
  • Tiina Hakkarainen, Parks & Wildlife Finland | Metsähallitus
  • Anna Castelli, EUROPARC Directorate Support

Attending from Youth Council

  • Alberto Madrassi – Parco naturale delle Prealpi Giulie

The Mission

To develop the agenda of Health and Protected Areas on behalf of EUROPARC Federation.

Outcomes

Since the 2016 EUROPARC Conference Workshop “We are Healthy Parks“, many important steps have followed. Among the many:

Making Europe healthier and happier – what you can do!

To make the Healthy Parks Healthy People Europe programme a success will take the active commitment of EUROPARC Federation members and the development of partnerships with a range of other organisations and networks in health and other sectors.

Join this exciting new European initiative and together we can make Europe a healthier and happier place by:

  • Championing HPHP Europe in regional, national and European policy and practice
  • Promoting a “nature for all” approach to help attract new audiences to Parks and Protected Areas and help reduce health inequalities
  • Investing in programmes and projects in Parks and Protected Areas that support public health outcomes
  • Staying in touch and working together!

The Healthy Parks Healthy People Programme is open to all EUROPARC members. If you are interested in develop health supporting and promoting activities in your park or Protected Area, send us an email. We will be thrilled to have you contributing!

If you wish to keep up-to-date with news and updates from the sector, you are most welcome to join our LinkedIn group

Get more at the HPHPe Programme page!

To the HPHPe Programme Page

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