Practical advice on the management of Outdoor Sports in Protected Areas

As it is explained in the previous EUROPARC Federation Toolkit on ‘‘Health & Well-being benefits from Parks & Protected Areas’’, there are some cornerstone principles that should be taken into account when analysing the benefits of Outdoor Sports in a natural environment:

• Protected Areas connect people with nature and represent a valuable natural asset that can provide specific contributions to the delivery of positive Sustainable Tourism outcomes.
• Contact with nature through outdoor sports is a basic educational tool for society: it helps the individual to connect with the area, resulting in better identification with the task of conserving the environment.
• Parks & Protected Areas contribute to individual and community health and well-being, inclusion, education and to wider aspects of economic health and growth.

Planning and delivery of site management to achieve sustainable outdoor sports objectives should be informed by and delivered through:

• Policy – a policy framework at national, regional and / or local level that establishes the connection between the natural environment and outdoor sports benefits
• Partnerships – community engagement and cross-sector partnerships in implementation reflect cooperation and provide wider benefits
• Best practice and innovation – a strong evidence base is supported by many examples of good practice, with innovative projects being shared throughout the parks & Protected Areas network
• The delivery of outdoor facilities by parks and Protected Areas is a natural extension of their traditional role in providing for access and recreation – it illustrates the environment sector responding to social needs and should be embedded as part of park management bodies’ core business.
• The importance of parks and Protected Areas for health promotion and improvement adds to the case for investment in these natural assets.

These principles have been developed from the Healthy Parks Healthy People philosophy as set out in the Melbourne Communiqué of 2010 which has been endorsed by the EUROPARC Federation.

Photo credit: Musko Visuals / Parks & Wildlife Finland

Key Messages:

• Protected Areas are the repositories of humanity’s natural and cultural heritage and a key tool for biodiversity conservation
• Outdoor sports practiced in natural environments have a strong positive effect on practitioners’ physical and mental health
• Outdoor sports contribute to the role of Protected Areas as promoters of territorial socio-economic development and sustainable green jobs creation
• Outdoor sports practitioners should respect the environment to ensure sustainability and environmental conservation
• Outdoor sports practitioners can raise awareness on environmental issues and become good ambassadors for nature protection

In this section you will find a general list of the benefits that outdoor sports can bring to society, extracted from the BOSS (Benefits of Outdoor Sports for Society) Toolkit prepared by the European Network of Outdoor Sports. Other benefits derived from the Jurmala Communiqué 2019: Healthy Parks Healthy People and other studies from EUROPARC Federation are also mentioned.

Mental health & wellbeing

• General mental health status
• Quality of life & overall wellbeing
• Combating mental illnesses & diseases
• Positive affective states
• Reducing negative affective states
• Control & coping
• Self-development
• Positive experiences
• Active and happy ageing

Physical health

• General physical health and related factors
• Combating diseases like stroke, heart attack & cancer
• Low injury rates and extended life expectancy
• Healthy ageing
• Subjective health perception
• Sun exposure effects

Active citizenship

• Community benefits
• Integration & inclusion
• Volunteering
• Bonding capital

Education & life-long learning

• (Intra) personal development
• Interpersonal development
• Educational motivation and achievements
• Cognitive aspects to improve learning
• Environmental awareness

Crime reduction & anti-social behaviour

• Increase of prosocial behaviour
• Prevention and reduction of crime
• Additional benefits
• Lifetime physical activity
• Accessibility Cognitive functioning
• Other multiple effects: economic health and growth (push for sustainable business)

Nature conservation

• Respectful attitude and engagement component
• Avoid bigger damages
• Educational tool
• Push for sustainable tourism
• Restoration initiatives and funding
• Research projects

Photo credit: Flatlight / Parks & Wildlife Finland

This section presents a series of recommended steps to be integrated into any management plan for Outdoor Sports in Protected Areas. It is not a definitive solution but a series of general recommendations on the concepts that an efficient management plan should develop. Since it is a general roadmap, in those concepts where more technical precision is required, other documents in the field of research will be referred to.

*A technical research article developing the plan for this first analysis: ”Outdoor recreation activities in nature protection areas – situation in Germany” by Stefan Türk, Edwin Jakob, Alexander Krämer & Ralf Roth (PDF)

A) Initial analysis should include data on:

• Activity areas, current demand and opportunities
• Frequentation flow and land use
• Nature protection and landscape management
• Carrying capacity: will allow the analysis of human pressure in the area of interest (download some reports about carrying capacity in the Downloads section)
• Monitoring schemes: this is one of the most important points to develop, as it will be used in each and every phase of management: from introduction to decision making and subsequent evaluation of results.
• Indicators: the creation of indicators will allow to evaluate the suitability of the solutions, as well as the necessary measures for the future. Since establishment of efficient evaluation systems is often challenging for Protected Areas managers, inspiration can be found for example in the article ”Research to guide management of outdoor recreation and tourism in parks and protected areas” (PDF) by Professor Robert E. Manning, where he proposes a management-by-objectives framework:

B) Secondly, the establishment of ”quiet areas” is recommended. In these areas, regulation will be different, more reinforced, and reflect a greater conservation interest. It should not be forgotten that we are talking about Protected Areas, where the value of biodiversity prevents the realization of most human activities, thus avoiding all kinds of unnecessary impact.

C) Finally, try to map areas where it would be desirable to drive the flow of sports practitioners. This should be done through the combination of geometric and factual data by employing Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Some parks – such as Collserolla in Catalonia, Spain – have developed their own computer application that automatically overlaps data from sports organizers on park maps to analyze suitability of proposals.

When identifying quiet areas, it is necessary to take into account concepts such as: borders of the park (sometimes it is interesting to drive the flows towards the periphery since the characteristics of the landscape are similar and the protected centre is not affected), areas where wildlife cannot be seriously affected, traditional or historical trails.

Some of the available tools to carry out this first analysis could include :

• Surveys: carried out at the visitor centre or on site (qualitative info)
• Eco-counters: different activities/purposes (quantitative info)
• Smartphone apps
• Big data systems

It is important to produce materials to effectively communicate the park’s strategy. Not all Protected Areas will be the same since each one has its own characteristics in terms of territory, location, extension, interests, species, activities, level of pressure… Each will then have an interest in developing content appropriate to its circumstances, after the initial situation analysis has been conducted.

A) Some examples of this content could be: codes of conduct/guidelines of good behaviour or good practices, rules of priority on the roads, explanatory panels (of the species present and important rules to respect), testimonies (not only from naturalists but also from representatives of sports federations or clubs)…

Do you need ideas?

The 10 Good Principles for Outdoor Sports in Protected Areas, launched by EUROPARC Federation together with ENOS (European Network of Outdoor Sports), can be a useful tool to work with. This document is available in more than 8 languages, and fully customizable to incorporate the design of the park. (Different language versions HERE).

Another idea is the Tread Lightly proposal, by the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) where they highlight ‘’the steps you can take when enjoying your favourite outdoor activities, to ensure that you are ‘treading lightly’, and minimising your impact on the environment that you are out exploring and enjoying’’.

B) Communication strategy:

-Communication is one of the most important points of the management plan and one of the weak points of many projects. It is not enough to create interesting content – the communication needs to be effective to reach the desired audience.

-Make sure your materials are attractive: if it is elaborated from only one point of view, is too restrictive or causes negative reactions, the previous work can be damaged. It must be done in a pedagogical and inclusive way.

-Your communication should also be coherent (with the interests of the Protected Area and the land uses) and efficient (not overwhelming with excessive and unnecessary information).

Ways to communicate?

• Official website as one of the best tools as it allows regular updates without wasting resources
• Documents / merchandising

Some good examples when disseminating products, brochures or any physical content:

1)       MERCHANDISING

Example: The message can be channeled through interesting tools:

• A cloth bag that replaces plastic bags and shows that packaging without plastics is possible.
• A metal straw, embedded in a paper that contains 10 principles to reduce plastic contamination. This replaces useless objects as plastic pens and provides a direct example of an environmentally friendly product.
• A space on the website dedicated to the project through which they disseminate their commitment.

2)       MESSAGE

Example: a small paper postcard showing the landscape of Protected Area, accompanied by a message inspiring people to reduce their impact, enhance their commitment, and explaining the recommended uses of the products offered. These recommendations are usually correlated with guidelines to ensure the practical implementation of the campaign.

3)       FORMAT

Example: a step forward in the production of brochures/newsletters that develop content in a more innovative way:

– A cardboard brochure is more durable. A folding mechanism allows to show one information or another depending on movement. This material has greater continuity in time than simple paper, and can be more attractive when communicating with the public. It can even be used as educational material (not only for children).

– An A4 format that can be deployed in A2, expanding knowledge with the form of a map, guideline, or basic content. The sensation of lightness together with the fact of being more complete than a simple paper gives a better feeling of usefulness and conservation at the same time.

The case studies on projects that have already been carried out in Europe, demonstrate the following conclusion : the success of the project and the communication strategy depends on the ability to create a coherent network, that includes all stakeholders involved in the life of a Protected Area.

Who should this network take into consideration?

-Conservation managers (authorities, protected area managers, NGOs…)

-Representatives of the sports sector (organizers, federations, clubs, schools)

-Local businesses

-Horeca sector (hotels, restaurants, cafés)

-Mountain guides and other tourism professionals

-Other stakeholders involved in land use

How to create the network?

You can find detailed information on this topic in the case studies of the EUROPARC Federation Knowledge Hub section on ”Outdoor Sports’‘. There you will find all the information about how to create networks to develop sports projects in Protected Areas. In general there are two solutions that are outlined as the most successful and used:

– European Charter for Sustainable Tourism (ECST): one of the most important programs of the EUROPARC Federation, having certified more than 100 sustainable destinations, which allows Protected Areas to work with all the stakeholders involved in the life of the park with a sustainable tourism objective, using this network already created to develop projects related to outdoor recreation (See case study: RESICETS Project, Aree Protette dell’Ossola)

– System of authorizations / agreements for those Protected Areas that do not have a previously organized network. This allows those responsible for nature conservation to be put in contact with Outdoor Sports representatives to develop projects or events jointly.

Objectives/targets of the network:

• To share the interests of the different actors involved, as well as to identify the problems from different points of view.
• Decide together the needs and solutions, as well as the importance and the why of decisions taken, for a better understanding of everybody.
• Make the stakeholders share the vision and experience on the ground.

While the previous phases need to be developed in a structured and coherent way based on the recommendations, the final phase of the action plan can be considered the most adaptable part to each situation and each Protected Area. It will depend entirely on the interests and management criteria of each space. Even so, there are a number of concepts that should be taken into account when drafting the plan:

• How to minimize the impact of activities on biodiversity (monitoring, carrying capacity, indicators…)
• Availability of resources to provide and maintain the experience: funding, partnership, volunteering
• Management criteria on track design and maintenance
• Provision of a quality experience and balancing competing visitor demands – visitors safety (transport facilities)
• Visitors payback schemes (for restoration purposes)
• Communication activities: workshops, seminars, ambassadors…
• Evaluation programme: through the indicators developed in the first phase

Making an offer of activities appropriate to the characteristics of the Protected Area, in a sustainable manner and with a minimum impact on biodiversity and the landscape, requires specific action. Besides that, a transversal strategy should incorporate all the necessary steps for the creation of a network that shares vision and objectives in terms of outdoor recreation. Therefore, this Toolkit should be completed with the Case Studies presented in the same section, in order to have a strong evidence supported by many examples of good practice and an overview on how to include outdoor sports in Protected Areas.

Photo credit: CBRC Caver Project