Page - 355 - in Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change

355 15.3.5 Germany 15.3.5.1 Introduction The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) provides the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) with professional and scientific assistance in all nature conservation and landscape management issues on the national, European and international levels. In these contexts, the BfN plays a central role as ‘science-policy interface’. In this light, the BfN has been active in the field of biodiversity and health for almost 15  years, in an effort to cover the physical, mental and social dimensions of health (see Job-Hoben et  al. 2010). 15.3.5.2 Main Activities BfN Research and  Development Project: ‘Green-Natural-Healthy’ To support the inclusion of health promotion aspects in planning practice, the BfN- funded study ‘Green, natural, healthy’ (Rittel et  al. 2014) included information on different user groups and their needs, criteria to determine health-promoting potentials of urban green spaces and a list of good arguments for planners concerning the positive effects of green spaces on human health. These scientific findings support municipalities with helpful arguments to safeguard and enhance the positive benefits of ‘green spaces’ on human health against the background of climate change, demographic change and environmental justice. Transfer of  Results One prominent example of the transfer of scientific results to decision makers is the national follow-up of the international study ‘The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity’ (TEEB). The ‘Natural Capital Germany  – TEEB DE’ report on ‘Ecosystem Services in the City  – Protecting Health and Enhancing Quality of Life’ contains comprehensive sections of the current knowledge of the nexus between urban green, human health, climate aspects and social cohesion (Naturkapital Deutschland  – TEEB DE 2016). Communication Related to  the  Topics of  ‘Biodiversity, Health and  Climate Change’ One example of BfN’s communication activities is the web portal ‘NatGesIS’  – short for ‘nature conservation and health information system’, a tool for communicating the interlinkages between nature conservation and health. The 15 European Nature and  Health Network Initiatives