Health and Protected Areas: Case Studies

Healthy nature, healthy people, Oulu Parks (FI) © Parks & Wildlife Finland

Health and Protected Areas: Case Studies

Physical activity and contact with nature is essential for human health, and ‘Green exercise’ can make a significant and sustained contribution to good physical and mental health and well-being. But how can we demonstrate the public health benefits that Protected Areas provide?

EUROPARC’s Health and Protected Areas Working Group (later HPHPe Commission) has taken the first steps in building an evidence base. The group compiled a suite of case studies from the EUROPARC network to demonstrate the important work that Protected Areas have been doing in the field of health. They show the work that Protected Areas and agencies all over Europe are 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 multiple initiatives.

The case studies aim to aid the promotion of European Protected Areas’ work in Europe and internationally and formed part of a toolkit for Protected Areas that the working group developed.

Case studies are available in multiple formats:

1) within the HPHPe toolkit;

2) through our webinars documentation;

3) in the “health and green exercise section” of our Knowledge Hub.

You can get a compact list of the case studies from the ” Knowledge Hub” as well as within the webinar recordings by clicking here

HPHPe_Case_Study_list_Dec2024

The case studies available in the toolkit can be accessed by clicking on the picture below.

HPHPe Toolkit: Health and Well-being Benefits from Parks and Protected Areas

hphpe toolkit

Click on the image to download the toolkit

Webinars on Health

With the support of the EUROPARC “Healthy Parks Healthy People Commission“, we have organised multiple webinars. Presentations – including multiple case studies – and full recording are available.

Do you wish to contribute to our Knowledge Hub?

If you wish to contribute with a new case study, you are invited to do so by submitting your own case study

You can also join us on LinkedIn. We have an HPHPe LinkedIn group and we look forward to learning from your experiences!

Get inspired, inspire others and stay tuned!

The first Health and Protected Area Case Study initiative was supported by EUROPARC Atlantic Isles, Metshähallitus and the Scottish Natural Heritage. Thank you for initiating and still contributing to this journey!