Wellbeing and the Environment

There are many ways in which the environment is crucial to our well-being.

This report examines the ways in which the natural world contributes to the beauty in our lives, enhances social ties, safeguards our mental and physical health and undergirds our economy.

If everyone in the world lived as people do in Europe, we would need three planets to support us. Beyond this broad sense in which the environment is fundamental to our lives, there is now an emerging body of evidence that suggests that the local environment, and particularly natural environments, meet a wide range of human needs and promote well-being.

In the first part of this paper we draw together some of this evidence looking at the relationship the broadest sense – including physical, resource and perceptual aspects to the relationship.

In the second part of the paper, we turn to the question of how we can achieve ​‘One Planet Living’ – where we all live within our environmental means – and yet maintain or increase our quality of life