Report highlights how nature helped us cope with Covid-19

Report highlights how nature helped us cope with Covid-19 - Natural Resources Wales

Cyclists in Brechfa (Natural Resources Wales)

Engaging with nature played a key role in maintaining people’s physical and mental health and overall wellbeing during the Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns, a new report has revealed.

‘Why Society Needs Nature’ is a collaboration between Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and colleagues from NatureScot, Natural England, Forest Research and the Environment Agency and uses national social surveys, site-based visitor data and practical case studies to provide a snapshot of how people visited nature and their experiences of it during the pandemic.

Dr Sue Williams, senior social scientist for NRW, said: “Engaging with nature is great for improving our physical health and mental wellbeing and this report highlights the positive and negative impacts the pandemic has had on outdoor recreation and our relationship with nature. Although there have been significant restrictions during the pandemic, local greenspaces were commonly visited sites especially during lockdown. When restrictions were eased popular countryside and coastal sites saw almost a doubling of visitor numbers, and during periods of more relaxed restrictions we have also been able to enjoy visiting other areas further away, including national parks and nature reserves.”

The importance of these ‘green and blue spaces’ for people’s mental health and well-being during the pandemic has been increasingly acknowledged as essential.

Engaging with nature, going for a walk or sitting in the park has been found to reduce stress and anxiety, while outdoor exercise can reduce depression and help reduce the psychological fear of the pandemic.

However, the research also revealed how engagement with nature became polarised, with some people's interaction increasing, while others visited the outdoors less often than before.

Movement restrictions and other Covid-19 related issues, such as fear of infection, meant that a significant proportion of the population did not visit natural spaces at all or did so far less than usual.