Green care baseline reports for each study country

The report is elaborated under WP 2 Assessment of the current status of green care, Task 2.2 Identify the status of green care implementation and Task 2.3. Recognize the synergies and trade-offs between health and green and blue space policies.

The main objective of this report is to present the baseline assessment of the three levels of green care in each megastudy area. In particular, the report aims to explore:

• how NEL is ensured through legal and management tools, with special emphasis on spatial planning (green space standards), environmental protection (environment quality standards), nature conservation (providing access to
  protected areas), forestry (nature-based recreation), and education (nature and biodiversity in the school curricula at all levels).
• what are the national, regional and local activities (communication, education, policy-making) to promote nature-based mental health prevention and treatment (i.e., NBP).
• what are the legal and management instruments that support the development of NBT including administrative arrangements, partnerships, and financial schemes.
• what is the level of integration between different policies in terms of health, green and blue infrastructure, social equity and environmental justice from the perspective of local and regional governance.

The report details the current status of green care implementation. It is divided into two main parts: Analytical and Synthetic. The Analytical part examines the status of green care implementation from two perspectives: the stakeholders’ viewpoint and the analysis of grey literature. The stakeholders’ perspective includes interviewees’ opinions on green care implementation and promotion, as well as barriers, conflicts, and aspects of equity and socio-environmental justice. The grey literature perspective focuses on the administrative, legal, financial and institutional frameworks that support the development of the three levels of green care. This section also highlights synergies and trade-offs between health and green and blue policies.

The Synthetic part of the report presents a SWOT analysis, outlining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with the implementation of the three levels of green care for equitable mental health benefits.

Identification of the status of green care implementation is focused on eight study areas, which represent regions with diverse natural characteristics including urban, peri-urban, rural, semi-rural and coastal areas:, as well as different socio-economic environments (Fig.1.), i.e. :Province of Barcelona (Spain), Bologna Metropolitan Area (Italy), Stockholm Metropolitan Area, focus area Stockholm (Sweden), Greater Manchester (UK), Pembrokeshire, Wales (UK), Ruhr Area (Germany), Warsaw Functional Area (Poland), Multnomah County, Oregon (US).