Children & Nature network

Children & Nature Worldwide: Research Supports Importance of Connecting with Nature

International Union for Conservation of Nature – September 10, 2012
By IUCN Commission on Education and Communication

September 10, 2012. Jeju, South Korea. The IUCN’s Commission on Education and Communication (IUCN-CEC) and the Children & Nature Network (C&NN) today jointly released the landmark Children and Nature Worldwide Summary of Research at the World Conservation Congress in Jeju, South Korea.

There is a worldwide trend in which children are disconnected from nature in their everyday lives. C&NN Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Richard Louv, highlighted this trend in his best-selling book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder . Reconnecting children and youth with nature helps to support their healthy development and also fosters their lifelong commitment to caring for the Earth itself.

‘We are pleased to make this new publication available to the world. It is an evidence-based resource that serves as a tool to dramatize the critical reasons for reconnecting people with nature. Among those reasons, nature-based experiences help to offset children’s increasingly sedentary lifestyles with associated negative consequences such as obesity, diminished creativity, attention disorder problems and, most important to the worldwide conservation community, a lack of experience to prepare them to care for the world’s natural environments for generations to come,” stated Keith Wheeler, Chair of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication and Dr. Cheryl Charles, CEC Assistant Deputy Chair and President and CEO of the Children & Nature Network.

The Children & Nature Network (C&NN) advocates for children, their families and communities to enhance their health and well-being and that of the Earth itself through direct experiences in nature. C&NN is leading a worldwide movement to re-connect people with nature through innovative ideas, evidence-based resources and tools, broad-based collaboration and support of grassroots leadership. For more information see www.childrenandnature.org.

IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges. IUCN CEC, the Commission on Education and Communication, is a network driving change for sustainability. More than 1000 members volunteer their professional expertise in learning, knowledge management and strategic communication to achieve IUCN goals. See www.iucn.org/cec.

To obtain the full Children and Nature Worldwide Summary of Research DOWNLOAD a copy of the Report.



Cheryl Charles, Ph.D. President and CEO Children & Nature Network
Keith Wheeler Chair IUCN Commission on Education and Communication

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