On 11 May, IAKS members met online for the kick-off meeting of the new „Nature Activity Areas“ Expert Circle.

Under the guidance of Holger Kortbek, Gladsaxe Municipality (Denmark), nine experts from four countries discussed the current trends and challenges in nature activity areas. To start with some input, Holger described the current situation from the Nordic perspective and then opened the discussion on how the situation is developing in other countries, and to define the expectations from users and public authorities.

Outdoor activity has become very popular - due to Covid-19. The experts stated a rising awareness on the risk that the number of users could be a conflict compared to the environment that is used. Different user groups could cause conflicts with each other. What used to be the work by volunteers i.e. the trails and tracks (the infrastructure), could become a service to be provided by the municipality.

EC Nature Activity Areas 20210511_ participants 1.