GreenME

Coordinatore di progetto: Università Autonoma di Barcellona (UAB)

Ambiti di ricerca: Pianificazione urbana, Pianificazione territoriale, Discipline medico-sanitarie, Orticoltura, Discipline sociali

Responsabile Scientifico: Giuseppina Pennisi

Durata: 01/09/2023 - 31/08/2027

Gruppo di ricerca: Giuseppina Pennisi, Michele D’Ostuni.

One in nine adults in the EU suffers from a mental health disorder, a burden which has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, prompting the inclusion of mental health as one of the five strands of the EU noncommunicable diseases initiative. The financial costs of mental health problems extend to over 4% of

GDP across the 27 EU countries and the UK. Still, already over-burdened healthcare systems struggle to provide necessary services for non-physical health priorities, leading to gaps in prevention and treatment, and underdiagnosis. Mental health inequities are strongly linked to gender and socioeconomic disparities. Furthermore, mental health disorders are uniquely linked with exposure to environmental crises such as climate change. Those with mental illness are two to three times more likely to die during heatwaves; and extreme weather events have been shown to lead to posttraumatic stress disorder among other serious mental health conditions. Suicide, anxiety, depression and acute stress have all been linked to extreme temperatures, and knowledge of climate change and fear of worsening climate conditions has been linked to stress and anxious feelings. Meanwhile, there is burgeoning evidence that green care (i.e. the provision of health and social services via contact with nature) can be used to promote mental health and wellbeing for the general population and particularly for underprivileged populations with greater risk for mental health disorders.

GreenME understands green care as a three-scale continuum from nature-in-everyday-life (e.g. the existence of green and blue infrastructure for viewing and walks) to nature-based health promotion (the promotion of active interaction with nature such as gardening and conservation) to nature-based therapy (the provision of treatment for individual patients). Green care can be a cost-effective approach to improving mental health and well-being. Furthermore, green care offers multiple co-benefits including increasing climate resilience and economic benefits—thus contributing to addressing the priorities of the European Green Deal such as the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 to protect ecosystems and promote climate resilience, and to sustainability development goals (SDGs) 3 (health), 11 (sustainability cities and communities) and 15 (life on land- restoring ecosystems).