Blue Sky Green Space

In support of Climate Week UK, environmental not-for-profit group GreenSpace has released an executive summary on climate change from the GreenLINK report, Blue Sky Green Space. The report includes information on the necessity of parks and green spaces to aide in the environment’s mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

The Blue Sky Green Space report outlines the many benefits that a diverse range of quality green spaces bring, covering health; communities; economic and environmental value. It is backed up by firm facts and figures and will prove an excellent resource.

The report highlights a number of key points, including:

• The parks and green spaces in and around our towns and cities, improve the health, wellbeing and quality of life of individuals. Their place is at the heart of our communities, helping to make them stronger and safer and ensuring that the places in which we live and work are more sustainable and attractive.
• Every year, well over half a million individual volunteers their time to work on green spaces in the UK. The economic value of their work is around £30 million per annum, the social return on investment at least four times that much, the true value to society is immeasurable.
• Green spaces provide a wealth of opportunities for exercise and sport. Evidence shows a brisk walk every day, in a local green space, can reduce the risk of heart attacks by 50 per cent, strokes by 50 per cent, diabetes by 50 per cent, fracture of the femur by 30 per cent, colon cancer by 30 per cent, breast cancer by 30 per cent and Alzheimer’s by 25 per cent.
• Over 90 per cent of the UK population live in cities. Urban green space represents 14 per cent of the urban landmass and the quality of life available to urban populations largely depends on this 14 per cent. Air quality, air temperature, water and flood management, are all kept within manageable limits because of parks and green spaces.
• The health benefits green spaces bring directly impact on some of the largest areas of National Health Service expenditure in the UK.

The report also outlines a plan for the future, to build on the good work already done by green space managers, and to adapt to new challenges in the UK presented by localism and Big Society.

You can read the Blue Sky Green Space Executive Summary here.
Or read the full Blue Sky Green Space report here.

Main picture of Hampstead Heath, London by satguru – Flickr

Leave a comment