Out now: EUROPARC Annual Report 2023!

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The EUROPARC Annual Report details all the work done in the previous year to achieve our vision of “Sustainable Nature; Valued by People”. Discover what happened in our 50th Anniversary year!

50 years of EUROPARC

2023 was marked by our 50th Anniversary. As our President Michael Hošek states in his opening remark’s of the Annual Report:

It is cause for celebration, but also for reflection on our legacy and future.

The 2023 Annual Report does exactly that. On 44 pages, our members can discover everything the Federation achieved in this momentous year. From milestones in our projects, to the celebrations at our Annual Conference, and the creation of the first ever EUROPARC Youth Council – this is your chance to catch up with all of our activities.

The publication emphasises not just the work of the EUROPARC Directorate, but the overall importance of Europe’s Protected Areas for the safeguarding of our nature. Furthermore, it showcases the importance of connectivity, both between natural spaces, and amongst people.

As always, the Report ends with inputs from the EUROPARC Sections on their achievements in 2023.

Read it now! Available in English, French and German.

English – Annual Report 2023      Français – Rapport Annuel 2023

Deutsch – Jahresbericht 2023

We wish happy readings!

Report: Outdoor activities in Finnish national parks saved society EUR 164 million in 2022

Photo: Metsähallitus / Saara Lavi

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Nature brings many benefits, however, to ensure adequate political and financial support it is important to relate this into numbers. Metsähallitus / Parks & Wildlife Finland have done exactly that in this new study.

Expert article from Tiina Hakkarainen, Manager, Corporate Relations. Metsähallitus / Parks & Wildlife Finland

Metsähallitus and the UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research calculated the benefits of outdoor activities for the Finnish economy.

In 2022, people participating in outdoor activities in National Parks and hiking areas reduced the costs to Finish society by EUR 164 million. This is done in the following two ways: outdoor sports reduce the costs incurred by chronic diseases, whilst also helping people retain their ability to work.

In 2022, more than 6.2 million visits were made to Metsähallitus nature sites. If the number of visitors to nature sites remained at least at the current level, the estimated savings would amount to as much as EUR 1.6 billion over the next 10 years. Compared to the costs incurred to society by sedentary lifestyles, the maintenance of nature sites is a cost-effective way of saving on these costs and promoting public health.

Many of Metsähallitus nature sites are suitable for day trips for the whole family, thus providing a socially significant means of increasing the physical activity of the population in addition to other methods of exercise.

Outdoor activity can generate far more savings than at present

The calculations made by the UKK Institute and Metsähallitus are underpinned by the costs of sedentary lifestyles to society, which amount to approximately EUR 3.2 billion annually. The costs of sedentary lifestyles are based on research conducted in cooperation with the UKK Institute, the Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics (JSBE), JAMK University of Applied Sciences, LIKES and the University of Turku Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine (CAPC).

The savings generated by outdoor activities were calculated taking into account the physical activity recommendation issued for Finns aged 18 and over as well as the extent to which people comply with it. This compliance was compared to how much it saves society on the costs incurred by national diseases and productivity costs.

Productivity costs refer to indirect costs incurred by society due to loss of production, such as sick leaves, disability pensions and premature deaths. The number of visits to nature sites on state-owned land managed by Metsähallitus was used to calculate the savings in 2022.

The calculations include Metsähallitus nature sites where it has been theoretically possible to engage in body weight outdoor activities during the recommended number of visits.

Funding for Metsähallitus Parks & Wildlife Finland comes from the Finnish Government

Funding for Metsähallitus Parks & Wildlife Finland mainly comes from the state budget. Many tasks are also carried out as projects with partners, partly with external funding, most notably from the European Union.

The funding for Parks & Wildlife Finland has been cut in recent years. For this reason, the UKK Institute report on savings from outdoor activities was of particularly importance.

Metsähallitus Parks & Wildlife Finland manages all 41 Finnish National Parks and provides free basic services at sites, at customer service points and online. Parks & Wildlife Finland provides free basic services for hikers so that as many people as possible can enjoy nature. Good hiking services make it possible to engage in outdoor activities safely and without disturbing the environment. It is also easy for nature tourism companies to develop their sustainable nature tourism activities on the basis of these services.

Further information:

Kolu P, Kari JT, Raitanen J, Sievänen H, Tokola K, Havas E, Pehkonen J, Tammelin TH, Pahkala K, Hutri-Kähönen N, Raitakari OT, Vasankari T. Economic burden of low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour in Finland. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2022 Jul; 76(7):677-684. doi: 10.1136/jech-2021-217998 (PDF, 592 kb, jech.bmj.com)

Download here the original study “Economic burden of low physical activity and high sedentary behaviour in Finland”

Download the study

Periurban Parks and Outdoor Sports – a match made in heaven?

Picture by Hans Stoops, IMBA Europe

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At the 7th Outdoor Sports Euro’Meet 2024, EUROPARC organised the workshop “Periurban Park Challenges and Innovative Solutions”. The event took place in beautiful LECCO, Lombardia, between the 10th and 12th of September 2024. Furthermore, an exciting new award was announced…

Background of the event

Outdoor Sports are an excellent way to connect people to nature. However, conflicts arise when sports are practised unsustainably, or when different users have conflicting interests. In 2018, EUROPARC signed a memorandum of understanding with ENOS, the European Network of Outdoor Sports, to tackle these challenges together. Fruitful cooperation has been ongoing since then with the development of a common project: the ERASMUS + SEE project and active participation in our mutual conferences.

As such, our colleague and expert on Sustainable Tourism, Outdoor Sports and Periurban Parks, Teresa Pastor was invited to take part in the 7th Euro-Meet. The event followed the theme: “Innovations in Outdoor Sports. Inspiring sustainable and active citizens”. Teresa provided a “Protected Area” lens by:

1. Conducting the workshop on “Periurban Park Challenges and Innovative Solutions.”

2. Participating in a round table moderated by Benjamin Billet on “Innovative ways to integrate environmental sustainability in the outdoors,” alongside Harmut Wimmer, Thomas Knights and Manon Carpenter.

3. Joined a panel discussion on the future “Launch of the ‘European Declaration on Trails” with Harmut Wimmer, Hans Stoops, Mike McClure, and Laura Suau.

Periurban Park Challenges and Innovative Solutions Workshop.

Tackling the conflict: Navigating the Intersection of Digital Tools, Conservation, and Stakeholder Management

The participatory workshop had the following aims:

  1. Understanding the main differences in visit features and visitor profiles between remote Protected Areas and Periurban Parks and the associated management challenges and opportunities.
  2. Further the thinking on how digital tools are changing the visitation patterns: What opportunities and challenges does this bring?

To set the scene, Teresa presented the Collserola Natural Park, a highly visited Park, located at the heart of the Greater Barcelona Region. Participants were then asked to think on expected differences between visitors of remote vs. Periurban Parks in terms of preferred seasonality, time of outdoor sport practice, origin of visitors, age, outdoor sports practice and group-size. This was followed by a short presentation on how the situation is in Collserola and a discussion on challenges and opportunities that arise from these visit profiles.

In general, outdoor sports visitors in Periurban Parks tend to be locals, going to the Park all year round, in high frequency. Their visiting times cover the whole day, including evenings. This high frequency, non-stop visitation threatens the natural assets. Furthermore, in Periurban Parks, two type of outdoor users share the space: those performing high speed activities (like trail running and biking) and those practicing slow activities (like hiking and walking). Walking is mostly done by senior people and families with young children. This high contrast in users and aims of the visits results in a high likelihood of conflict. However, as visitors are often local, this also means that there is potential to engage with them and work together in putting in place innovative management solutions.

Additionally, participants had to reflect on the benefits that IT tools (GPS based and outdoor sport apps) bring for users. These benefits include, knowing where they are, discovery of new trails and that they are cheap and easy to use, and how these relate with new management challenges and opportunities.

The low cost, easy to use, apps are helping new comers – from traditionally underrepresented groups, to ‘seek adventure’ in the outdoors. This contributes towards a healthier population. However, this increases issues with visitor managers for Park Managers: more people, going everywhere, at any time. However, this new technology can also be part of the solution as it can help managers to get to know visitors better – where they go, when, in a group or alone, gender, etc. This information is essential to plan the trails and other infrastructure better.

The workshop was a perfect venue to discuss different ideas in favour of a better accommodation of Outdoor Sports in Periurban Parks.

A new award

To deepen the relationship between Outdoor Sports and Protected Areas, as well as to highlight best practices, ENOS and EUROPARC are excited to launch a new award! It will recognise outstanding initiatives in the field of outdoor sports & nature restoration. More information will follow soon, so stay tuned!

Want to know more?

If you are interested in further outcomes of the events, as well as other presentations, will be made available on the webpage here.