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WCC 2016 Res 064 - Activity Report

Submitted by Joanne.Wilson on Mon, 02/11/2019 - 02:31
General Information
Strengthening cross-sector partnerships to recognise the contributions of nature to health, well-being and quality of life
IUCN Constituent: 
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service
IUCN Constituent type: 
IUCN Member
Period covered: 
2018
Geographic scope: 
Global
Country/Territory: 
Australia
In implementing this Resolution your organization has worked/consulted with...
IUCN Members: 
Parks Victoria / Australia
IUCN Commissions: 
IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy 2013-2016 (CEESP)
IUCN Secretariat: 
No
Implementation
Indicate and briefly describe any actions that have been carried out to implement this Resolution: 
ActionDescriptionStatus
Education/Communication/Raising awarenessNSW OEH presented a paper to the 2018 Community, Conservation and Livelihoods Conference in Canada on the use of a ‘5 captials’ approach at a World Heritage site to demonstrate how improving stakeholder values will also help protect outstanding universal values of the site. Completed
Policy influencing/advocacyNSW National Parks and Wildlife Service Healthy Parks Healthy People Strategy is in development and will provide a framework to promote the health and wellbeing benefit of existing programs, evaluate outcomes for health and wellbeing and natural values, influence health policies and strategies to include reference to nature and manage national parks to maximize health and wellbeing benefits.On-going
Policy influencing/advocacyNSW National Parks and Wildlife Service is working with other NSW government agencies that manage parklands in Western Sydney to protect natural values and provide opportunities for people to experience natural places in an area of rapid urbanisation. On-going
Policy influencing/advocacyNSW OEH staff spoke at the ‘Nature is Good Medicine’ forum at the 2018 International Parks and Leisure Conference in Melbourne on the importance of connection to Country to health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people. Completed
Policy influencing/advocacyNSW Office of Environment and Heritage is providing input to the development and revision of NSW government strategies relating to health and active recreation to recognise the importance of nature and the contribution of facilities and services provided in National Parks to health and well-being of local communities. On-going
Policy influencing/advocacyThe NSW Office of Environment and Heritage Corporate Strategy was released in 2018 and aims to ‘Connect Communities to Conservation and Culture’. It specifically recognises the contribution of a healthy environment to health and wellbeing of individuals and communities. Completed
Scientific/technical activitiesOEH has undertaken research to quantify the tourism and recreation value of all national parks in NSW (Heagney et al. 2018) and to identify key ‘socio-economic benefit pathways’ through which national parks can improve socio-economic wellbeing the surrounding local community (Heagney et al. 2015). Heagney, E. C., M. Kovac, et al. (2015) "Socio‐economic benefits from protected areas in south-eastern Australia." Conservation Biology. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12554 Heagney, E. C et al. (2018). "Optimising recreation services from protected areas–Understanding the role of natural values, built infrastructure and contextual factors." Ecosystem Services. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.10.007 On-going
Please report on the result /achievement of the actions taken: 
These actions have resulted in increased awareness of the importance of including nature and protected areas into strategies, policies and programs that support health and well-being and also increased awareness within OEH of the important contribution of our work to health and wellbeing.
What challenges have you encountered in implementing this Resolution and what measures have you taken to overcome them?: 
Challenges include making non-traditional partnerships, establishing credibility for the concept. Measures to overcome include networking, demonstrating relevance of nature in different scenarios, and using extensive scientific literature to demonstrate that policies are evidence based.
Identify and briefly describe what future actions are planned for the implementation of this Resolution: 
Future ActionDescription
Policy influencing/advocacyDeveloping Healthy Parks Healthy People strategy for NSW as the basis for implementation of priority projects and to seek external funding.