Going back to nature: Green Care as an emerging field for nature-based innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe
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The negative effects of the current societal and environmental challenges on human health and wellbeing are of growing concern. Nature and ecosystem-based approaches such as Green Care can offer a wide range of solutions to mitigate these negative effects. Green care is an emerging concept referring to the health and well-being benefits of activities carried out in contact with nature. By focusing on four thematic sectors – Forest-based care, Social agriculture, Urban green care, and Green care tourism – the Green4C multidisciplinary EC funded research portrays the complex picture of the solutions offered by social and nature-based innovation and entrepreneurship in the Green Care sector in Europe (www.greenforcare.eu). The research aims to a) understand the entrepreneurship needs of the stakeholders involved in the sector and b) assess success factors and challenges for innovation in Green Care. The research employs qualitative data collection methods, namely academic and grey literature review, an online questionnaire, and in-depth interviews with the innovative case studies and best practices operating in four thematic sectors. The results show that there is a clear trend of growing interest and participation in Green Care, strengthened in the current context of the global pandemic, yet the challenges in different countries indicate uneven entrepreneurship and innovation capacity. Gaps in policies, institutional and governance frameworks, quality assurance, and collaborative arrangements were identified as important challenges. The research concludes that the Green Care innovation and entrepreneurship that integrate sustainably managed green spaces with a focus on health and well-being can contribute to healthier and more resilient human societies and natural ecosystems. Recommendations for different stakeholder groups, including policy-makers, are detailed in the EU Blueprint on Green Care.
Keywords: green care, health, well-being, innovation, entrepreneurship
ID: 3486896