Healthy places, healthy people: Nature-based solutions for health and wellbeing

Dr. Caitriona Carlin, Dr. Gesche Kindermann, Dr. Easkey Britton and Dr. Christine Domegan

The interconnectedness of human and environmental health requires a crosscutting approach to assess values, perceptions, motivations and barriers to using nature for health and wellbeing. The Nature and Environment to Attain and Restore Health (NEAR Health) project combines multidisciplinary expertise to engage communities in the natural environment to benefit their health and wellbeing. Health professionals, ecologists and marketing, innovation and social policy specialists have come together to develop a framework for integrating health promotion and environmental awareness in Ireland. The main objective of the NEAR Health project is to apply a combination of tools to appraise values, motivations and barriers of stakeholders to engage in outdoor and communal activities in their environment throughout their lifecourse. The team will collaborate with policymakers, practitioners and communities and other stakeholders to explore the types and qualities of public spaces that can be used in the design and implementation of inclusive nature-based solutions to assist communities to attain, maintain and restore health. This multidisciplinary appraisal presents a unique synergy for health professionals and ecologists in Ireland to build research capacity, and knowledge for communities, policy makers and practitioners to achieve the Healthy Ireland framework goal to ‘create an environment where every individual and sector of society can play their part in achieving a healthy Ireland’.

This seminar is one of a series of seminars in the Whitaker Ideas Forum seminar series.  Gesche will be representing the SIPPs research cluster.