Seite - 376 - in Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change

376 16.5 Looking Forward These examples highlight the need to work together and strengthen knowledge on the health benefits of parks and nature  – across government, medical professions and the community to ensure a healthy environment to support a healthy society. This starts with dialogue, policy and action plans and the integration of biodiversity and natural ecosystems in urban and regional planning and development, addressing this at the level of neighbourhoods, cities and the wider landscape. The SDGs present an important framework for collaborative action to respond to a range of global challenges and are premised on the notion that problems cannot be solved in isolation. To achieve the multiple goals of the SDGs, it will be important to protect, manage and restore key natural ecosystems, including protected and con- served areas, to improve natural resource management and to safeguard the ecosys- tem services and biodiversity that contribute to human well-being. The protection and effective management of natural ecosystems within and beyond city boundaries is critical to ensuring that urban environments are buffered from the effects of cli- mate change and that vital services such as clean air, clean water and opportunities for outdoor recreation that are essential to human health and well-being can con- tinue to be provided to an increasingly urban population. At the same time, rapid Box 16.5: Nature Is Good Medicine • Dr. Robert Zarr, a paediatrician at Unity Health Care’s Upper Cardozo Health Center in Washington DC, prescribes physical activity in parks to treat obesity, diabetes and mental health disorders (Washington Post 2015). His park prescription programme is based on the multiple medical ben- efits of spending time outdoors. Dr. Zarr is at the forefront of a movement among physicians who are making nature a fundamental part of their patients’ health-care. They are now joined by the US National Park Service and the US Public Health Service. • The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers has been promoting Green Gyms, which combine conservation volunteering with physical activity through planting trees. Doctors in the UK can refer people to Green Gyms to treat problems caused by mental health disorders, social isolation and physical inactivity (Trust for Conservation Volunteers 2016). • Elders back on Country  – The health and well-being benefits for Aboriginal people in Australia of being on ‘Country’ have been well docu- mented. Two new projects were recently initiated in the State of Victoria to enable disabled Aboriginal Elders to get Back on Country by using Trail Rider wheelchairs. Parks Victoria was awarded both a Victorian Tourism Award and the Australian Tourism Award for its disability access programme. K. MacKinnon et al.