2009 Get Outside!

Get Outside! It’s in Our Nature: BC’s 2nd Regional Forum on Children, Families and Nature

March 5-8, 2009 at Royal Roads University
 

With 170 delegates, 7 keynote speakers, and over 20 workshop presentations, the Get Outside! It’s in Our Nature Forum was a big success. We were joined by keynotes Robert Bateman, naturalist, painter and patron of Royal Roads University; Richard Louv, author of Last Child In the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit-Disorder; Dr. Cheryl Charles, President of the Children and Nature Network in the U.S.; researcher Dr. Louise Chawla, author of Growing Up in an Urbanizing World; and Martin LeBlanc, National Youth Education Director for Sierra Club in the U.S.

See the Summary Document of the Get Outside! It’s in Our Nature Forum linked here.

A large amount of material was collected over the course of the three days, and much of it is available for you here on our website.  For videos and photos from the forum click below:

The forum’s mandate was to determine how to better facilitate opportunities for children and families to enjoy nature, cultivate a sense of efficacy and care for community while nourishing common sense and reconnection outdoors - guided by five goals:

1. Children have outdoor playtime included in their school and out of school lives;
2. Neighbourhoods are designed and built to allow nature to be nearby, accessible and attractive to children and their families;
3. Outdoor environments are friendly, safe, joyful and beneficial;
4. Children are competent in handling and benefit from the challenges of being outdoors and/or in wild nature;
5. Children and their families understand, respect and cherish nature.

A strategic session for determining the role of the Child and Nature Alliance was held on Sunday, March 8th.  This session was conducted as a World Café using the five action items outlined in the Hatley Park Declaration:

• Supporting the creation of a Child and Nature Alliance: support the creation of a child and nature alliance with the vision of providing increased opportunities for children and families to get outside to play and explore….

• Building collaboration among sectors: increase opportunity for and channels by which inter-sectoral planning can occur

• Increasing Public Awareness: Initiate a public education campaign aimed both broadly and at families. Also, commit resources for in-service training and the continued education of health, education, recreation and other professionals

• Engaging urban land and planning professionals in a dialogue about planning places within the community where children can safely be outside and in natural surroundings.

• Bringing Nature Back into Education: Ensure that educational policies provide opportunities for children to be outside, in nature, for both curricular and extra-curricular experiences.

• Increase budgets dedicated to children and nature: stimulate increased research capacity, increased knowledge exchange and the ability for professionals to facilitate this dialogue.

Download summary notes from the Sunday strategy session here.

Download: 

cna_getoutside-forum-summary.pdf

cna_-alliance-matrix-notes2-1.pdf