A Guide to the Healthy Parks Healthy People Approach and Current Practices

Improving Health and Well-being:
Healthy Parks Healthy People stream
Closing plenary session
The closing plenary was a summary of the key
approaches and ideas presented throughout the
stream at the Congress. The goal was to
empower participants to promote relevant
approaches that link health, well-being, parks
and protected areas, apply it in their daily work
and harness the growing support for a new
global movement involving park and health
sectors that will result in concerted actions to
sustain parks and improve people’s health.
Summary of session and discussion
Participants gathered in groups to explore key
themes of the Improving Health and Well-being:
Healthy Parks Healthy People stream. Group
tables were hosted by individuals who had been
identified throughout the Congress as leaders
and champions of these themes.
Participants documented their personal and/or
organisational commitments to applying these
approaches in their own situations and contexts
after returning from the Congress.
Session managers
Bill Jackson, Alannah Gottschalk and Kathryn Campbell, Parks
Victoria, Australia
Table hosts
Jonathan Patz, Director Global Health Institute, University of
Wisconsin, USA
Constanza Martinez, IUCN Global Policy Unit, Switzerland
Gil Penalosa, 8-80 Cities, Canada
Mardie Townsend, Deakin University, Australia
Eileen McNeely, Harvard School of Public Health, USA
Juleon Rabbini, Stream 3 Youth Representative, USA
David Eichberg, Environmental Progress Initiatives, Hewlett
Packard Company
Cristina Romanelli, Secretariat of the Convention on Biological
Diversity, Canada
Rod Quartermain and Jim Sharp, Department of Environment
and Conservation, Western Australia, Australia
David Stratton and Ros Hart, TrailRider advocates, Australia
Melika Y. Sheikh-Eldin, Australian Multicultural Education
Service, Australia
These commitments were recorded so that
participants could recall and recommit to these
after the event, as well as sharing them with
others in their organisation to ensure action.
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