Introduction by Croakey: Connection with nature is important for the wellbeing of people and communities, but silos within governments hold back efforts to enable a “nature-connected future”, according to researchers.
To enable such a future, a new report suggests these are needed: legislative and policy reform, the development of ecological literacy in education and health fields, long-term funding, community-led action and stronger links between research, policy and practice.
Meanwhile, an upcoming workshop will put a focus on diverse cultural approaches to caring for nature, protecting biodiversity and supporting stewardship across communities.
Online registration is available for the Cultures of Care workshop on 20 October. It is part of the Healthy Environment and Lives (HEAL) Network’s 2026 conference, which the Croakey Conference News Service is covering.
Fran Molloy, Communications Manager for the Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub, based at the University of NSW, reports below on recent research and other developments in the field.
Fran Molloy writes:
What might a nature-connected future look like? A recently released report entitled ‘Achieving a nature connected future: Science, strategies and stories’ explores this question.
The report forms part of a six-year project co-funded by the Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub and the University of Tasmania, using place-based storytelling, surveys, workshops and community activities to explore themes around people’s connection to nature.
The question of Australia’s nature-connected future was discussed by more than 60 researchers, policymakers, practitioners and community leaders from Lutruwita/Tasmania and around Australia, during a two-day workshop held in Nipaluna/Hobart last year.
Participants explored their vision for a more nature-connected Australia, the barriers and enablers of that vision and pathways to achieving it.
The group imagined a future where nature became “the backdrop of daily life, grounding people in belonging, reciprocity and care”.
Their visions included children climbing trees, exploring creeks and learning outdoors as part of everyday life, Elders resting in shaded green spaces near their homes, communities gathering in gardens and along waterways, and cities designed with nature at their heart.
These ideas, and supporting surveys and data collection, are captured in the new report from the University of Tasmania and the Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub’s Nature Connection Project.
Driving action
Dr Emily Flies, lead for the Nature Connection Project and researcher at the University of Tasmania, led the team in a survey of over 4,000 people, which found connecting people with nature had benefits for nature, and for our health and our wellbeing.
The findings show strong correlations between nature connection, life satisfaction, and quality-of-life. Highly connected individuals were more than four times as likely to report the highest levels of life satisfaction and nearly twice as likely to report the highest levels of quality of life.
Nature connection also drives action; people with the highest levels of nature connection were 82 times more likely to be engaged in advocacy-related environmental behaviours.
A storytelling project that was part of this research showed how people experienced nature through body, mind, spirit, and place. Story themes included childlike wonder, grief, renewal, transformation, and cultural belonging.
The stories showed how nature connection can be a form of healing, resilience, and identity. By including stories from diverse perspectives, including Indigenous and migrant communities, the project showed the rich variety of meanings that people bring to nature connection.
Flies says the research shows improving people’s connection with nature delivers resilience that is social, as well as ecological: “Our research and research from around the world shows that nature connection supports wellbeing.
“People who are connected with nature are also more likely to care for nature in diverse ways so there are wellbeing benefits to human and non-human nature.”
Addressing barriers
The workshop also identified barriers to be overcome to improve people’s connection with nature. People can face cost, health, geographical, social and structural barriers to accessing nature.
Engagement with nature can be reduced by time pressure, demands of employment and digital distractions, while unequal access to green spaces can make connection with nature more difficult for some communities than others.
“The fact that health and environment are often separated in government institutions and in different organisations is problematic because nature connection has these benefits for both,” Flies says.
The report identifies silos in government, short term funding, and no national measurement of people’s connection to nature as further barriers to a more connected future, she adds.
People in the workshop came from across different sectors and levels of government and talked through possible actions for advancing nature connection through federal and state policy, local government and community-based activities.
“Much of the evidence and policy conversation risks being framed in technical or transactional terms,” the report authors wrote.
“Using values-based communication provides a way to mainstream nature connection by making it meaningful, identity-shaping, and motivating for diverse audiences.”
Flies said that one of the stronger messages from the workshop was that nature connection needs to be supported across the life course, rather than relying on one-off experiences or programs.
Examples include outdoor education, bush programs and nature play as opportunities to make connection with nature a normal part of childhood and schooling.
Importantly, these opportunities have to continue through teen years, adulthood and later in life through initiatives in workplaces, neighbourhoods, health systems and community activities.
Caring for Country
The workshop heard examples of shared experiences such as volunteering, art and neighbourhood projects engaging different audiences, run by groups including Conservation Volunteers Australia’s Nature Blocks Program, Landcare Tasmania, Kuno Earth and business education.
Community gardens, local events, creative activities, signage and accessible amenities can also create small, repeated opportunities for connection in everyday life.
Another important message was that nature connection needs to be visible and that having standard ways to measure connection at both national and local scales is key for tracking our progress to the goal of a nature-connected Australia.
This would help make nature connection “business as usual” rather than a fringe effort.
The report authors point out Aboriginal leadership as essential to a nature-connected future, with First Nations knowledge systems and caring for Country practices as central to decision-making, policy and land management.
A nature-connected future would require legislation and policy reform, ecological literacy in education and health fields, long-term funding, community-led action and stronger links between research, policy and practice.
It would also require land and sea managers to work with communities that notice and care about changes to local places.
“People who care about and regularly interact with the nature around them notice changes to those places,” says Flies. “Managers can draw on that local knowledge to support monitoring, communication and locally-appropriate adaptation.
“In these ways, nature connection can contribute to climate resilient communities.”
Watch
The report was discussed at the recent Nature, People and Place: Exploring multiple dimensions of human and nature relationships event hosted by Mosaic Insights as part of Social Sciences Week. See the recording below.
Workshop
Dr Emily Flies will host The Cultures of Care workshop on 20 October, bringing together people from Aboriginal and other Australian communities, as well as Japanese experts with an interest in sharing knowledge, ideas, and exploring different cultural approaches to caring for nature, protecting biodiversity and supporting stewardship across communities. In-person spaces for this event have filled up, online registration is available here.
Author details
Fran Molloy is Communications Manager for the Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub, based at the University of NSW, which is funded by the Australian Government under the National Environmental Science Program. Declaration: AI transcription of recorded conversation about article (Program: Otter.ai). AI image-to-text conversion of the following images from the ANCF Workshop report: Figure 9 (keywords); Figures 15 & 16 (workshop graphic notes). (Program used: Gemini) .AI used to summarise key report themes in bullet points to help develop article structure.
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