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Category: Opportunities

Taking Green Care to the next level

From social farming to impacts of disconnection from nature on psychological and community resilience to finding science-based strategies to innovate and promote nature-based health and social care: on 7 December around 100 participants from 24 countries across 4 continents joined the final  online event of the Green4C (GreenForCare) project. A mentimeter showed that people came from varying working backgrounds: education, research, Green Care practice, Health care, politics, and more. 

The event was opened with an exciting presentation by Matilda van den Bosch (IS Global) discussing the state of science in Green Care. Green Care stands for a “range of activities that promote physical and mental health and well-being through contact with nature” (1). Her presentation set the scene for the meeting showing how crucial nature is for our physical and psychological health. Next, Deirdre O’Connor (University College Dublin) and Marjolein Elings (Wageningen University & Research) introduced Social Agriculture, one of thematic sectors of Green Care. Especially the video from social farms and gardens brought across the feeling of how much social agriculture can do for physical and mental well-being as well as to strengthen social inclusion. As Jim Hidderley put it in the video “Humanity is not designed to life in a box! Green spaces, fresh air, animals and contact with other people that is, that is the key to life”.

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Health in the city – How can we all get more Green Care?

Mental health issues such as anxiety, stress and depression are especially since the pandemic on a massive rise around the globe (1) and scientific studies have shown that we spend around 90% of our time indoors (2). At the same time the research is becoming more and more clear: nature does not only help to improve our physical but also psychological wellbeing, summarized under the term “Green Care”, standing for a “range of activities that promote physical and mental health and well-being through contact with nature” (3). Several studies have shown that when we spend time in nature our stress levels are lowered (4), our anxiety level decreases (5) and the time spent in forests can even help in preventing or curing burn-out and depression (6). We can reconnect to our emotions which facilitates personal insights and leaves us feeling more connected to ourselves (7) and cope better with stress, which makes us more resilient and positively affects our mood states (8). Furthermore, our social connection can be facilitated when we deeply experience forests together (7). But it is not only humans who benefit from spending time in nature:  There might also be a positive outcome for nature, because research shows that if we feel connected we are more motivated to behave environmentally responsible (9) and support pro-environmental outcomes (10).
But even though research results are so promising, Green Care initiatives often face difficulties due to uncertainties in financing, low public awareness, recognition of the role of such initiatives and there has hardly been any integration into health policy to date. The Green4C project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, has been working the last three years towards the innovation and promotion of Green Care. In order to find innovative solutions to mainstream Green Care, six hackathons in six countries were organized, one of which was the Green Care Hackathon on the 23rd of November at the EFI office in Bonn.

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Green Care Hackathon 23.11 in Bonn

Waren Sie in diesem heißen Sommer auch so glücklich, im Stadtpark unter Bäumen auszuruhen? Haben Sie auch gemerkt, wie ruhig und zufrieden uns städtische Grünflächen und -Wälder machen kann – egal, ob wir dort Chillen, Joggen, oder mit Expert*innen etwas über die Wunder unserer Natur lernen?

Wir haben uns gefragt: Wie können wir noch mehr von den positiven Auswirkungen von Natur- und Umweltpädagogik, oder auch von Waldtherapie profitieren? Wie könnte dieses “Green Care” als Präventivleistung von Krankenkassen angeboten werden, und welche innovativen und tragfähige privatwirtschaftliche Initiativen gibt es? Um mit Ihnen gemeinsam Antworten zu diesen Fragen zu finden, veranstaltet das European Forest Institute in Bonn am 23. November 2022 im Rahmen des „Green4C“-Projektes einen “Hackathon”.

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What can we say about forest-related employment and green jobs in the forest sector after 3 years?

What has been happening since its inception? “It is an exciting time to summarize what we have done for the past 3.5 years and look…

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Present your research at #IFPM4! Call for abstracts open

Dear Researcher,

We want to learn more about your expertise on forest related policy issues! The 4th International Forest Policy Meeting (IFPM4), taking place in Bonn, April 27-29, 2022, is a great opportunity to present your research. We are happy to hereby share the call for abstracts and invite you to take part in the conference!

IFPM4 is organized by European Forest Institute’s Governance Programme in collaboration with EFI’s Forest Policy Research Network coordinated by the University of Life Sciences Vienna (BoKu). The conference will focus on the science-policy and the science-media interfaces in the field of forest policy. The past months have reminded us once more that human health is closely intertwined with the well-being of our environment and further the compelling need of well-informed, science-based discussions.

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Innovating with forests’ resources and integrated mindsets

Through human history, forests have provided a great variety of natural resources such as woods, nuts, and fruits. While we have gotten accustomed to these conventional resources, the current environmental crisis has pushed interdisciplinary research to innovate with bio-based materials as an effort to contribute to a bio-based economy.

For the past decade, a great variety of bio-based materials have been developed to replace synthetic packaging, structural materials, leather, and other fossil fuel dependent materials. Many of these are made of agricultural waste such as corn starch, leaves from different plants, coffee waste, and a large etcetera. Moreover, other bio-based materials are developed by harnessing living systems such as mycelium (the root of fungi), algae, and bacteria. This relatively new practical approach (in material design) is called Biodesign.

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Dare to Explore! Gaining work experiences, a key to finding your career path – Apply now

Preliminary results from the “Educating towards forest-related employment” survey (still open until 10th of December!) show that both students and recent graduates view Internships/Traineeships as one of the most valuable practical experience during their studies. Further they regard these work experiences as useful in defining their career decisions. 

The Joint EFI-IFSA-IUFRO project on global student networking and green jobs in the forest sector (Green Jobs Project), conducting this survey, is also offering some unique traineeship opportunities: 

The Dare to Explore! TraineeshipProgram offers four, paid traineeship positions, in prestigious institutions each year. The traineeships aim to enrich students and recent graduates’ formal education and gain insight into the science-policy-interface at the international level, including research, communication, and policy-relevant activities. 

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EFI Bonn looking for a PhD Researcher on Perceptions of Wildfire Risks

The European Forest Institute (EFI) is now looking for a PhD Researcher on understanding perceptions of wildfire risks and related land management at its Bonn, Germany, office.

Deadline for the application is 16 December 2019 COB.

The objectives of the research are:
• To analyse perceptions of fire risk and related concepts of fire (risk) management in different regional and sectoral contexts across Europe amongst a) fire and land management experts, b) land owners and managers in different regional settings;
• To enhance learning and generate transferable knowledge on risk and its management through interconnecting experts across regional contexts.

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