There is a strong tradition in Britain of volunteering involving a wide range of activities and organisations. Increasingly volunteering is seen as a way of benefiting health and building sustainable communities. In a study in 2007 we aimed to address the research questions: what are the motivations for, barriers to, and benefits of formal practical environmental volunteering for those individuals involved? Qualitative and quantitative data collection was undertaken while spending a day each with ten volunteer groups as they undertook their practical conservation activities. In this paper we focus primarily on the physical, mental and social well-being benefits that volunteers derived from their activities. Our research involved 88 people volunteering regularly in a range of places from scenic natural landscapes to urban green spaces in northern England and southern Scotland. Respondents described a range of benefits they gained from their involvement including improved fitness, keeping alert, meeting others and reducing stress levels. We suggest that practical environmental volunteering has flexibility in the types of activity available and the time scale in which activities are undertaken and therefore can provide a range of physical, social and mental well-being benefits to people with very differing abilities and from different socio-economic backgrounds.Résumé la Grande-Bretagne bénéficie d'une forte tradition du bénévolat impliquant un large éventail d'activités et d'organisations. Le bénévolat est de plus en plus considéré comme un moyen de profiter à la santé et de créer des communautés durables. Dans une étude de 2007, nous avons cherché à répondre aux questions de recherche: quelles sont les motivations, les obstacles et les bénéfices de la pratique formelle du bénévolat environnemental pour les personnes concernées? Une collecte de données qualitatives et quantitatives a été effectuée au cours d'une journée passée avec dix groupes de bénévoles tandis qu'ils menaient leurs activités concrètes de conservation. Dans cette étude, nous mettons principalement en évidence les bienfaits du bien-être sur le plan physique, mental et social que les bénévoles retirent de leurs activités. Notre recherche a concerné 88 bénévoles réguliers dans différents lieux, allant des paysages naturels pittoresques aux espaces verts urbains, situés dans le nord de l'Angleterre et le sud de l'É cosse. Les personnes interrogées ont décrit divers bienfaits qu'elles retiraient de leur participation, notamment une meilleure condition physique, le maintien de la vigilance, les rencontres avec les autres personnes et la réduction des niveaux de stress. Nous avançons que la pratique du bénévolat environnemental permet une certaine flexibilité dans les types d'activités proposées et dans les délais pour réaliser les activités, et qu'elle peut donc apporter divers bienfaits en termes de bien-être sur le plan physique, mental et social pour des personnes aux compétences très différentes, issues de milieux socioéconomiques variées.Zusammenf...

Volunteering in nature may be particularly effective for those who would like to be outdoors and have more contact with nature yet need specific encouragement and supported/led activities to participate.

Issue addressed: Health promotion has adopted the planetary health perspective to address the threats posed by climate change, environmental degradation and environmental deprivation. Nature is a setting for health promotion that can produce co-benefits for human health and the protection of the environment. This paper presents the findings of a New South Wales (NSW) study of peoples' motivations for, and co-benefits of, environmental volunteering.Methods: This paper combines the findings of a literature review and qualitative data from a larger mixed-methods study of environmental volunteering (eg administration and co-ordination, bush regeneration, advocacy, tour guiding) in NSW. A review of international literature from 2005 yielded 100 documents for analysis. Maximum variation and stratified purposeful sampling strategies were applied to engage 12 environmental volunteers and 30 employees of environmental organisations in a series of focus groups (n = 2) and interviews (n = 22). Qualitative thematic analysis techniques were applied and data triangulated.Results: Motivations for environmental volunteering include the following: personal, for example, new skills or knowledge, environmental, for example, improve the environment and social/community, for example, forming connections. Environmental volunteering offers a range of benefits for individuals, environmental organisations and the natural environment. These include enhanced mental and social health, and connection to place and learning about the environment. Conclusions:Environmental volunteering has the potential to address key determinants of health -social inclusion, employment and education. From a planetary health perspective, there are multiple co-benefits of human-environmental interaction arising from environmental volunteering. Environmental volunteering is a planetary health strategy that could be incorporated into community-based health promotion.So what?: Health promotion has a mandate to act on ecological determinants of health. Environmental volunteering is an untapped resource for community-based health promotion and for achieving planetary health goals.