Human health and well-being motivations and benefits associated with protected area experiences: An opportunity for transforming policy and management in Canada

This paper reports the results of a study from two protected areas that identifies visitors’ perceived health and well-being motives and benefits associated with visitation to, and experiences provided by, protected areas. First, the expected human health benefits received from visits, and in particular the anticipated improvements associated with psychological/emotional and social well-being, were perceived to be a major personal value in the preference and choice to visit protected areas. Second, the perceived benefits received from the experiences were substantial. Visiting protected areas can be considered a highly positive life experience, and the greatest well-being benefits were perceived to be psychological/emotional, social, cultural, and environmental. Finally, visitation to parks was perceived to have important benefits for child development, especially in terms of physical development, social knowledge and competency, and cognitive learning and language. Interestingly, the well-being benefits received from visits were often perceived to be greater by women than men, and especially with respect to several aspects of child development. These results suggest that the social capital housed within Canada’s protected areas estate deserves consideration alongside ecological capital in policy and management programmes pertaining to conservation. Research is necessary to confirm if these findings are applicable more broadly.