Mission and Vision
The World Society for Forests and Parks for Public Health is a multidisciplinary Scientific association that aims to improve public health and the well-being of all citizens of the world by fostering contact with nature, including forests, parks, and urban green spaces.
This Society will pursue this mission by promoting scientific research and otherwise improving understanding of nature-health relations; by supporting exchange among those working to improve understanding of nature-health relations; and by communicating research findings and other information to public authorities and other actors involved in local, regional, national and international government.
The Society
The Society’s primary purpose will be to emphasize the significant role of forests, parks, and green spaces in public health by fostering multidisciplinary cooperation among scientists, practitioners and others who are working with issues directly or indirectly related to relations between forests, parks, and green spaces on health and well-being. In pursuit of this purpose, the Society will engage in various activities, such as hosting conferences and other forums; producing publications, newsletters, and podcasts; cooperating with other international organizations; and maintaining an active presence on social media platforms.


Some Areas of Involvement
- Environmental epidemiology, health geography, and other disciplines involved in documenting the associations that forests, parks and green spaces have with public health outcomes.
- Environmental psychology and other disciplines involved in formulating and testing theories about the ways in which individual experiences of natural settings engender beneficial mental and physical health outcomes.
- Health promotion, recreation planning, nature-based tourism and other professions involved in designing programs and settings in which individuals, small groups, and the general public can visit and experience forests, parks and greenspaces.
- Forest medicine, forest therapy, green care, and other approaches to health care that work with individuals to treat ill health or prevent decline in health.
- Forestry, urban planning, landscape architecture, ecology, conservation biology, and other academic disciplines and professions involved in caring for the natural settings from which individual and public health might benefit.
The Society’s World Conference
In pursuit of this mission, the Society organizes the World Conference on Forests and Parks for Public Health. This multidisciplinary conference is held every 2 years in a different country.
