This document discusses the social and economic benefits that protected areas can provide to urban areas. It outlines how protected areas can help address various urban challenges, such as improving mental and physical health, social cohesion, water supply and quality, pollution management, flood control, and sustainable economic development. Specific examples are provided of protected areas around cities like Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain and Brussels, Belgium that help regulate urban climate and pollution. The document concludes by emphasizing the need for greater awareness of these benefits and cooperation across stakeholders to better integrate protected areas into urban planning.

1. www.ieep.eu
@IEEP_eu
Social and economic benefits of protected areas
in the urban context
Marianne Kettunen
Principal Policy Analyst / Co-lead of Global Challenges Work Stream
Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP)
2 July 2015
Urban Biosphere Initiative (URBIS) Webinar series
Boulders Beach / Table Mountain NP / Cape Town © M Kettunen

2. • How cites and urban areas benefit from protected
areas (PAs)?
• Policies, instruments and incentives supporting
investment in PAs as natural solutions to urban
challenges?
Content of the presentation

3. • Individual wellbeing and quality of life (mental and
physical health)
• Communal wellbeing, social cohesion
• Drinking water supply
• Drinking water quality
• Pollution management
• Waste water management
• Safety from environmental risks (e.g. flooding)
• Sustainable economic development
What urban challenges PAs can respond to?

4. • Vitoria-Gasteiz / Basque Country / Spain
(European Green Capital 2012)
• Affected by heatwaves
• City centre up to 5 degrees warmer than
low-density areas
• Duration of heatwaves expected to increase
in future
• Green belt around the city, connecting peri-
urban areas - integrating Natura 2000 and
Ramsar sites - continuously developed since
early 1990s
• Tree lined corridors connect city centre with
surrounding green belt: recreational
opportunities and cooling comfort against
urban heat
Regulating urban climate / mitigating heath stress
Natura 2000
Peri-urban green
infrastructure
http://eucities-adapt.eu/cms/assets/NewFolder-2/NewFolder-
3/Conference/Birmingham/Vitoria-Gasteiz.pdf

5. • Sonian Forest - EU Natura 2000 site /
Brussels / Belgium
• Almost all of the metropolitan area in
Brussels exceeds WHO limits for air
pollution.
• Higher resolution reveals that natural spaces,
particularly the large Sonian Forest, a Natura
2000 site, have less than half the levels of
pollutants.
• Collserola Natural Park / Barcelona / Spain
• As Barcelona has a relatively low level of city
vegetation, the Collserola Park is the biggest
sink for pollutants in the city
Regulating urban pollution
References from IEEP et al. (forthcoming) Health and Social Benefits of Nature and
Biodiversity Protection - project for European Commission
Sonian forest / Brussels (c) Vincent Brassinne Flickr

6. Mental and physical health
• Several PAs / city of Oulu / Finland
• Dedicated initiatives focused on providing
quality natural outdoor environments for
the citizens of Oulu
• Physical health: activating people towards
spending time in the outdoors and
engaging in regular physical activity in
green spaces.
• Communicated as a form of preventive
medicine
• Mental health: finding new ways to
provide therapy in natural environments
and PAs for different target groups
http://www.metsa.fi/sivustot/metsa/fi/Hankkeet/Rakennerahastohankkeet/OpenAir
/Sivut/openairenglish.aspx

7. Social integration and cohesion
• Urban and peri-urban PAs / cities of
Lieksa, Rautavaara & Kuopio / Finland
• Pilots studies conducted to promote
social integration of new immigrants
• Somali women (with high rates of
obesity) highly motivated to participate
in nature walks.
• Walks also considered convenient for
mothers staying at home with several
small children to participate.
• Both for Somali men and women -
learning to know Finnish nature,
berries and mushrooms - improved
their chances of receiving income
through forest products.
http://www.metsa.fi/sivustot/metsa/fi/hankkeet/rakennerahastohankkeet/luontolii
kuttamaan/sivut/default.aspx

8. • 1/3 of the world’s 100 largest cities draw a
large part of their drinking water from PAs
• Catskill State Park / NY state and city / US
• PAs & forests in Catskills / Delaware watershed
purify water for NY city
• US$ 6 billion (total) savings in water treatment
costs
• Cayambe Coca and Antisana Ecological
Reserves / Condor Bioreserve / Quito /
Equador
• 80 - 90% of Quito’s drinking water originate
from two PAs
• Information on PAs’ role in water retention
and purification have been used to establish
specific objectives, zones and tools for water
management within PAs
Regulating urban water supply
New York © M Kettunen
Ashokan Reservoir / NY State © M Kettunen
Catskill State Park / NY State © M Kettunen
See Kettunen & ten Brink (2013) for references

9. • Nakivubo Swamp / Kampala / Uganda
• Provides a significant benefit to the city by
purifying waste water and capturing
nutrients
• Pressures to drain the wetland for other
landuse purposes
• Maintaining wetland ~2 million $ / year
avoided costs of running a sewage
treatment facility
• Assessment of the benefits resulted in
gazetting Nakivubo Swamp as PA
Urban waste water purification
© Yannick Tylle
See Kettunen & ten Brink (2013) for references

10. • Muthurajawela-Negombo Ramsar
wetland / city of Colombo / Sri Lanka
• Continued degradation of wetland has led
to an increased frequency of flooding in
the Colombo urban area
• Economic value of natural flood
attenuation benefits estimated around
US$ 5.4 million / year (as replacement
costs)
Environmental security / mitigation of flooding
See Kettunen & ten Brink (2013) for references

11. • Nuuksio National Park / greater Helsinki
area / Finland
• Located around 30 km from Helsinki
• Highly popular destination for both locals
and visitors to Helsinki
• Number of visitors: 285 200 / year (2014)
• Accumulative economic impacts of visits
to greater Helsinki area: 2.2 EUR mil / year
(2014)
Promoting urban economy
© Wikimedia Simo Räsänen
See Kettunen et al. (2012) TEEB Nordic , Kettunen and ten Brink (2013)
and Metsahallitus for references

12. Policies, instruments and incentives
Strategic planning
• Green infrastructure plans as part of urban planning
• PA management plans with links to socio-economic benefits
• → integrating the two !
Evidence base
• Biophysical (e.g. hydrology mapping, air quality measurements)
• Socio-economic (e.g. benefit assessments, replacements costs)
Urban env. governance
• Awareness raising regarding possible benefits
• Wide stakeholder involvement, inc. urban planners, PA managers, water
managers, health sector etc.
Concrete instruments (e.g. funding)
• Landuse plans and zoning
• Compensation and/or PES schemes
• One-off investment in restoration of green infrastructure (e.g. wetlands)

13. Conclusions
• As well as instruments for biodiversity
conservation, PAs should be treated as an integral
part of urban green infrastructure
• Benefits to both urban planning (cost-effective
natural solutions) and biodiversity conservation
(funding and public support)
• Further awareness of benefits and wider
cooperation between key stakeholders (urban,
water, health, nature …) needed!

14. Further information
• Kettunen & ten Brink (2013) Social and
Economic Benefits of Protected Areas - An
Assessment Guide
• The Economics of Ecosystems and
Biodiversity (TEEB) (2008 - )
• TEEB Water and Wetlands (2013)
This presentation also builds on an ongoing project for the European
Commission on ‘Health and Social Benefits of Nature and
Biodiversity Protection’ by IEEP et al. (2014 – 2015) For further
details contact: Patrick ten Brink at (ptenbrink@ieep.eu)

15. www.ieep.eu
@IEEP_eu
Marianne Kettunen
Principal Policy Analyst / Co-lead of Global Challenges Work Stream
mkettunen@ieep.eu
IEEP is an independent, not-for-profit institute dedicated to the analysis, understanding
and promotion of policies for a sustainable environment in Europe.
Thanks !
Boulders Beach / Table Mountain NP / Cape Town © M Kettunen